Can you help survey ponds and other water bodies at one of Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s nature reserves or other locations with landowner's permission? This is to feed into the National Amphibian Monitoring Programme, led by the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust.
What's involved?
Carrying out amphibian surveys at water bodies over 4 separate visits. For frogs and toads, this needs to be between 1st January and 31st March and for newts surveys need to be done between 1st April and 30th May.
ARC provide forms and hints on how to record what you find and then input your data. There are online training sessions that provide information on how to identify different species.
Taking part is free and gives you access to:
- desktop and mobile apps for recording your findings and storing your records
- online maps showing your records, survey sites and other useful information
- the latest results from the project
- information about training resources and events
Detailed informaiton on what's involved can be found here
Why get involved?
This survey is designed to determine trends in the occurrence and relative abundance of frogs, toads and newts in the UK, focusing on common frog Rana temporaria, common toad Bufo bufo, smooth newt Lissotriton vulgaris, palmate newt Lissotriton helveticus and great crested newt Triturus cristatus. It also contributes to our understanding of where these species are found and what factors influence their distribution. As well as making observations on species, surveyors collect basic information about the habitats surrounding the waterbody that they survey, and environmental variables that may affect the species present.
The National Amphibian Survey builds on and updates the amphibian element of the National Amphibian and Reptile Recording Scheme (NARRS), which has collected data from more than 1100 waterbodies since it began in 2007.
How to get involved?
Please get in touch with;
abby.whitmore@cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk or survey-coordinator@arc-trust.org
Ideal Skills
- Conservation
- Research
- Working independently
Ideal Interests
- Conservation
- Outdoor work