The Gwent Amphibian & Reptile Group covers the Unitary Authorities of Cardiff, Newport, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen and Monmouthshire, and is affiliated to ARG-UK.
The group's objectives are:
If you are interested in joining, please complete & return the membership form to Mel Sutherland (GARG secretary). For insurance purposes, we also require volunteers to complete and return this Volunteer Working Agreement form.
Meetings are held quarterly, at various locations throughout the GARG region. Minutes are available to download:
GARG Minutes - Thursday 31st January 2008
GARG Minutes - Thursday 6th March 2008
The last meeting was held at 6.30pm on Tuesday 10th June 2008, at the Lecture Theatre, County Hall, Cwmbran.
Caerphilly Great Crested Newt Surveys
GARG has been carrying out surveys for Great Crested Newts (and other amphibians) in conjunction with Caerphilly CBC. Volunteers were encouraged to help out as there were about 16 dates in all, from April to early July 2008. This involved daytime visual searches for eggs and nightime torchlight surveys to look for the adults.
For further details or to register your interest for next year, please contact Maggie Iles (Caerphilly CBC).
Toad Patrol
There are organised toad patrols at a couple of road-crossing points in Newport. If you know of any additional sites which could benefit from a toad patrol during the spring, please let us know, or report it via Froglife. This activity is weather dependent, as the toads will tend to migrate once the cold weather breaks in spring, and we have a mild, damp spell. Dates will be confirmed once the toads are on the move! Hi-vis jackets are provided, courtesy of Capita Symonds.
Trellech Reptile Monitoring Project
2008 was the third year of the project to monitor reptiles on Forestry Commission land which has been clear-felled and is being restored to heathland. The site is generally surveyed twice a month in spring, decreasing to just once a month in the summer, but the frequency of visits can be increased to accommodate a greater number of volunteers. Volunteers are welcome to accompany Matt Harris (GARG chairman) or to undertake surveys by themselves once they have the reference maps and risk assessments etc. Amphibian surveys in the ponds will be organised separately.
As part of their Year of the Frog campaign, Amphibian Ark, a global organisation working to tackle amphibian declines, has put together a petition expressing their concern to world leaders about the ongoing amphibian extinction crisis. The petition will encourage them, and their countries, to do more to save amphibians before they disappear forever. Do your bit for amphibians globally - add your name to the online petition.
Also, in celebration of the Year of the Frog, GARG would like to encourage people to submit details of all frog sightings to SEWBReC via the on-line recording form. You can find advice and information on frogs in gardens on the Froglife website.
If you have seen any reptiles or amphibians (native or not!) in South East Wales, please submit your records to us. You can do this using our on-line recording form. Remember, we are interested in all records, even frogspawn! The UK BAP Priority Species list now includes most of our native herptiles.
The herpetofauna website has some good identification information, as does the NARRS website in its downloadable survey packs.
GARG can coordinate training for volunteers as required; please speak to Matt Harris or Mel Sutherland if you are interested.
If you are interested in joining, please complete & return the membership form as above. For all other enquiries, please contact: