Reptiles
Legal Protection
All native UK reptiles (Adder, grass snake, smooth snake, sand lizard, common lizard and slow worm) are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended), making it illegal to intentionally kill or injure a common reptile. Rare reptiles (smooth snake and sand lizard) also receive legal protection under the Conservation of Habitats and Species (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. It is illegal to deliberately injure, kill, capture or disturb a rare reptile, or to damage or obstruct any place used for shelter or protection. Rare reptiles may only be handled by licensed ecologists.
Survey...
Surveys should be undertaken at an appropriate time of year when reptiles are active and not hibernating. Reptile surveys are typically undertaken April – September in suitable conditions and is usually undertaken by placing artificial refugia around the target area. The refugia are made of tin or roofing felt which warm up in the sun providing an attractive refuge for basking and shelter for cold blooded reptile species. A minimum of 7 visits should be undertaken checking the refugia and undertaking a visual search of the survey site. Once a population estimate is established a suitable mitigation strategy can be developed.
Mitigation...
Mitigation is designed to be appropriate to the level of impact and the population size. Common methods of reptile mitigation include habitat manipulation techniques for low impact projects involving sensitive vegetation clearance techniques, encouraging reptiles to adjacent retained and protected habitat. Alternatively, reptile translocation work is undertaken to remove reptiles from an impacted area to a designated receptor site. For this purpose the site is usually fenced off with exclusion fencing to prevent reptiles from re-entering the site and trapped out for a set number of days until the population has been relocated.
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Barn owl!
GCN and eft! #surveys #newts
River corridor surveys have yielded positive results! #surveys #rivers #otters
Amazing efts! #surveys #teamnewt
Perfect day for team training #sunshine
Beautiful great crested #newts this morning #surveys
Great find! #adder #snakes #surveys
Badgers playing! #cubs #april #playtime
And of course cakes! #yum #stockholm
Small streets and beautiful buildings #stockholm #adventures
Survey mornings in April! Beautiful views!
Amazing @jubberstravels story telling @Waterstones
What a beauty! #reptiles #slowworm #surveys #spring
Having a good scratch! #badgers #spring
Male and female great crested newts #teamnewt
What a catch! #newts #surveying #spring
Newt hunting! #newts #surveying
Nice find this morning! #bats #surveys
Good view point! @oldvictheatre can’t wait!
Excellent book! @Waterstones @jubberstravels so good to see it rightly recommended! We are looking forward to his next one!
Super photo! Pipistrelle rehomed under licence #bats #lovebats
Science! @sciencemuseum
Dinosaurs 🦕 and invertebrates today! @NHM_London
The joy of winter fieldwork #mud #surveys
Beautiful and crisp morning #cold
Very excited to be here today! #london #NYE
Super day out! #backtothefuture
Tempting! #backtothefuture
Found it!
Rare wintering bird spotted in central London! #christmas #partytime
