the online meeting place for all who love our amphibians and reptiles |
|
The rough guide to reptile mitigation.... |
Post Reply | Page <12345 7> |
Author | ||
administrator
Admin Group Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Status: Offline Points: 10 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
|
PS Jon, I'm probably not making my point very well, my vote is to add to the guidelines that survey data and mitigation data be made available directly to the right organisations - all too often masses of data are lost to reports that clients hope nobody will ever read or 'confidentiality clauses'. The way I see of convincing the client in development lead mitigations to go along with this is to make it quite clear that it is the way forward regarding gauging consultant performance and selection.
|
||
sussexecology
Senior Member Joined: 30 Sep 2010 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 411 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
|
Edited by sussexecology |
||
Vicar
Senior Member Joined: 02 Sep 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1184 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
|
Pretty sure this isn't us in Surrey (blimey, won't it be embarrassing if it is!). I think we've got a pretty good relationship with local consultants. Some are on the Committee (we've always been ultra-careful about even the perception of conflicts of interest, but in practice this has never been an issue for us), and over the last three years we've trained more than 50 !, and many conduct voluntary surveys for us.
I had to laugh about survey of receptor sites....surely this is the bare minimum that should be considered ! You should see what we're proposing for re-introductions! (admittedly for the rare species). Edited by Vicar |
||
sussexecology
Senior Member Joined: 30 Sep 2010 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 411 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
|
Thanks for your message Steve. I must admit we try and do what we can in regards to the bare minimum. I highlighted this point because it works! Edited by sussexecology |
||
administrator
Admin Group Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Status: Offline Points: 10 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
|
Hi Robert,
It's really good to see you being so candid on the forum regarding these issues. I totally agree that nobody needs 'bad-mouthing' but plenty of it goes on. It really doens't help the situation at all. I would pick-up on one point though. If H is working right now to 'clear the last of the reptiles' there is an issue regarding activity of the animals at this time of year. Is it a case of actual clearance or reduced encounter? This is one situation where graphing the results is very useful to give confidence that we are not just seeing reduced activity. In my own experience though it's very true to say on a mitigation lasting into October I've been very well aware of 'who was left' on the site and it was just a case of making sure they were captured before 'sign off'. You may well be aware of this method but I thought I would expand on it before anyone says that it shouldn't be done at this time of year. Of course if it is now a case of destructive search it's in my opinion the ideal time when activity is low but release can still be successful. My little tales are just a selection of those that carried a great deal of humour, the fact is though that many people are working with reptiles who have little clue regarding how to target a survey or carryout a mitigation. We really all need to get away from the 'opaque vase' analogy where people only know what has gone wrong when the vase overflows to a much more transparent situation. My own issue with ARGs is that very often one is dealing with someone who is also a consultant. When it comes to conflict of interest we really need transparency both ways and to remember few are beyond some form of reproach perhaps at times a case of Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Edited by GemmaJF |
||
administrator
Admin Group Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Status: Offline Points: 10 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
|
Getting back to the subject of this thread we need some clear guidance on timing.
I personally believe August/September/October to be excellent months to actually capture reptiles and plenty of data to show it to be so. However, the situation we want to avoid totally is having to capture neonates if at all possible. Can I propose that the guidelines should include something along the lines of: Though capture works may continue through August/September/October a mitigation should not be started at this time of year. It is essential that mitigation start earlier (defined as xxx) to ensure gravid reptiles are removed from the site. It's my experience that it's generally easy enough to remove the majority of gravid animals early on in a mitigation. But to start much later than mid-August is going to mean a lot more capture effort to remove juveniles from the site a situation that really ought to be avoided. I'm very reluctant to say though that capture works shouldn't be carried out at this time of year as we have data of thousands of animals translocated during these months. The emphasis needs to be on the mitigation starting early enough to remove gravid animals before they 'pop'. Just to illustrate my thoughts, In all we need guidelines but they need to be based on good science not opinion. Some will probably be strongly of the school that reptile mitigation should only be carried out April/May/June. Truth is we have data to show that encounters with sub-adult (i.e. previous year cohorts) is actually highest in September/October. I also hate to see destructive searches done in June/July at the height of reptile activity, I've seen far too many gravid animals killed during the works. The main thing is any guidelines need to be fluid and backed by data. The way we as consultants can ensure the guidelines are based on good science rather than one persons opinion is to provide the data. Edited by GemmaJF |
||
Vicar
Senior Member Joined: 02 Sep 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1184 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
|
In Surrey ARG, we're lucky enough to have non-ecological professional in the chair and county recorder posts. Of the consultants we have as members and on the committee, I would trust them absolutely to be impartial and objective, and they've proved this time and time again. I think most ARGs, including SARG, struggle to get as much involvement from the membership as we'd like. Reptiles in particular are a difficult taxon group to survey, compared to, say botany (I've seen botanists spend a 'fruitful' day without getting more than 2 metres from where they parked the car - ooh look, another sedge!). I suspect that in most ARGs, it's the consultant-base who bring much of the expertise.
Sweet music to my ears :P off to read Jim's latest novel, in case it answers any outstanding questions! |
||
administrator
Admin Group Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Status: Offline Points: 10 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
|
I'm sure that is the case at SARG Steve.
The ideal situation would be to have all active reptile consultants in an area part of the ARG wouldn't it! Now there is a thought. The issue is one of reluctance to involve ARGs in consultancy work. There is unfortunately from many consultants point of view good reason to do just that. Particularly if they have experienced past difficulties with individuals. I'm not actually talking here of any difficulties I've experienced, lets face it I'm in a position where I would only have to pick up the phone and discuss directly with the people involved what was going on and their viewpoint. Rather more a case of knowing how things have sometimes been conducted in a less than constructive manner in these situations in the past. A particular shame considering the level of expertise we all know to exist in the SE ARGs from the consultancy base... shooting off rockets aimed at other consultancy groups hasn't as yet solved any of the problems. Edited by GemmaJF |
||
sussexecology
Senior Member Joined: 30 Sep 2010 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 411 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
|
Thank you Gemma for your comments. It is good to know as well that there are other consultants on this forum. Edited by sussexecology |
||
administrator
Admin Group Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Status: Offline Points: 10 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
|
Sorry to hear about H, hope she is well soon.
Can I ask what refuge material was used? I don't use tin at all these days, heavy, sharp edged and I find the window between it being too cold to produce results and too hot is narrow. We moved over to black onduline a few years back and it gives excellent results for all 4 widespread species. When it comes to slow worms though a roll of cheap ordinary roofing felt cut onsite is really hard to beat, so we use both during mitigations if slow worm are present. We do the same and strim out vegetation as the capture rate starts to drop away. It also works well for common lizards to concentrate them towards the refugia. At times it has been the only method to 'flush' grass snakes under refugia. Generally I only find adult grass snakes under refugia if they are sloughing, digesting or have just had most of their cover removed from the site. The issue with timing is two fold. If we can move any gravid animals before they give birth it not only saves us capture effort of delicate juveniles but also ensures the animals are born at the receptor area which I believe gives a much better chance of a new population establishing. I've been in the position of mitigating a large project with multiple areas where our access to one area was delayed. It was small and only had a handful of common lizards present but because those females that were there gave birth it took just as long to remove the juveniles as it had to remove literally hundreds of animals off the other areas earlier in the year! It's certainly a useful lever with a client to point out if the mitigation isn't started at an optimum time it's going to take longer and cost more due to the increased effort of catching neonate animals later in the season. Edited by GemmaJF |
||
Post Reply | Page <12345 7> |
Tweet
|
Forum Jump | Forum Permissions You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot create polls in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum |