Get involved in Garden Dragon Watch! By Angela Reynolds - Editor
New Purbeck Heaths National Nature Reserve! By Angela Reynolds - Editor The UK has welcomed its first ever ‘super’ National Nature Reserve (NNR) connecting 3,331 hectares or 8,231 acres, of 11 types of priority habitat across the Purbeck heaths of Dorset.
Do you love to listen to the happy croakings of the frogs in your pond, delight in the golden flash of a slow-worm disappearing in to your compost when you throw out your spud peelings or find yourself smiling when you lift a flower pot and find the bright coppery eyes of a toad looking up at you? We'd like to know how many people are lucky enough to see frogs, toads, newts, lizards or snakes in their gardens and how many gardens have habitat features that help amphibians and reptiles thrive. Many of us are concerned at the rate at which our amphibians and reptiles are declining and our gardens are playing an increasingly more important role in their survival. By taking part in our Garden Dragon Watch, you not only get to connect with nature on your doorstep, your observations will be used to improve understanding of which reptiles and amphibians live in gardens and what garden features they like best in order to help us to protect them. Find out more at https://www.arc-trust.org/garden-dragon-watch
Hop off the Press!
ARC’s Bitesize herpetology courses By John Wilkinson - Regional, Training & Science Programmes Manager
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In the light of government advice on coronavirus (COVID-19), we have had to cancel most of our upcoming training courses to maintain social distancing. As we are currently unable to carry out face-to-face training our expert staff have created a new series of free, introductory training modules for anyone with an interest in amphibians and reptiles. It’s a great way to increase your knowledge of herpetology, at a pace and time that suits you. We have beginner levels which cover amphibian and reptile identification, improver levels focusing on individual species, assessments and quizzes which we will continue to add to over the coming weeks. Something for everyone to enjoy whilst we are all spending much more time at home. Check it out at https://www.arctrust.org/training Good luck and above all else have fun!
ARC’s Norden reserve is part of the new NNR
By working together and combining land, expertise and a common vision, the National Trust, Natural England, RSPB, Forestry England, the Rempstone Estate, Dorset Wildlife Trust and ARC, along with other landowners and managers, have taken important strides forward in landscape–scale conservation and nature recovery to benefit rare and varied wildlife such as the Sand lizard, Dartford warbler and the Silver studded blue butterfly. The new NNR will give many different species of flora and fauna a better chance of adapting and thriving in light of the current climate crisis. “The new NNR provides a unique opportunity to nurture a landscape level partnership which will safeguard this internationally threatened habitat and its diversity of species. We look forward to working in close collaboration to ensure we are better equipped to take on the challenges facing our environment;” said Tony Gent, ARC CEO.
ARC feature in Parliamentary Review By Anju Sarpal - Communications & Outreach Manager ARC meets the challenge of influencing policy and legislation in a number of imaginative ways. Our specialist staff provide expert advice and guidance to policy-makers; we contribute to the governmental biodiversity strategies in England, Wales and Scotland, and provide advocacy to promote biodiversity benefits as new legislation and policy are developed. To conserve species ARC’s aim is to educate and inform; thus we run national monitoring programmes, involving professionals and citizen scientists, and apply new and innovative ways of studying them – including the use of environmental DNA, remote sensing imagery and computer modelling. These provide valuable data that we feed to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. (DEFRA) For this reason ARC’s work features in this year’s Westminster publication, The Parliamentary Review, which shares best practice amongst UK MP’s and business leaders.
