Originally this outing was supposed to be a pond maintanance event, however, on account of the early emergence of newt species in the area it was deemed safer to survey the pond instead. The survey mainly involved netting and hand searches.

 

Over the last year LARG have been participating in a national survey of amphibian populations for the Chitrid fungus. Chitrid is a lethal fungal disease which is affecting amphibian populations throughout the world. In the past, sampling of native species has been the focus, however, at this event the focus was the non-native alpine newt (see photo below).