Great Crested Newts: Site Maintanence in the Sun

Over the past three days, myself and some hard working volunteers have been preparing Naturally Wild's largest great crested newt trapping site for the upcoming trapping season; due to start as soon as temperatures begin to steadily rise. We have successfully reinstalled pit-fall traps throughout the site, based in Teesside, which had risen above ground level due to fluctuations in temperature.

We also created a series of hibernaculum within the reserves of our release site. For those who may be a little unsure, hibernaculum are areas of refuge sought by a specific group of animals; in this case, we created hibernaculum for great crested newts and other native amphibians. As great crested newts particularly seek out areas of refuge underground, we dug appropriately sized holes which were then filled 3/4 with gravel, and topped with soil - a very cosy place for amphibians to hibernate during the upcoming winters.

We have been lucky enough to be working outside whilst it has been beautifully sunny, with only slight showers (for a change...!), helping us all to enjoy our days of dedicated digging. As we are all huge wildlife enthusiasts, we were thrilled to have two sightings of Roe deer whilst working in our release site. We were downwind from one particular doe, so had the privilege of watching her natural behaviour in a clearing until she briskly ventured into the dense conifer plantation.

I would like to say a HUGE thank you to the Naturally Wild volunteers: Lauren (and, of course, Cyrus!), Phil, Carl, Catherine and Tom for helping out with our GCN site maintenance works.
We look forward to working with you again soon!

If you are interested in volunteering with Naturally Wild this year, send us an email via the 'Contact Us' tab and we will get back to you!

- Heather