A large turnout of Society members were treated to a light hearted but in depth talk by James McAdie – Head of Projects at Froglife (and River Nene Dragon Finder).
James spoke about all the amphibians and reptiles found locally and gave identification clues to all 13 species found in the UK.
Many you may be familiar with but others are much scarcer and more localised. Common Frog, Common Toad, Natterjack Toad, Pool Frog, Smooth Newt, Palmate Newt, Great Crested Newt, Common Lizard, Sand Lizard, Grass Snake, Adder, Smooth Snake, Slow Worm.
As James told us this is not a great number but within these species some are in decline especially the Common Toad which is very site faithful and can be severely affected by new roads and housing estates between its fragmented breeding grounds. We were given an aerial view of one excellent reserve on private land near Peterborough through the use of modern technology in the form of a drone, but even here the evidence of building encroachment was very evident.
