7
Records have come in from Frating and
Colchester, where the Toad is also present
in good numbers. At the latter site toads
were found on waste land sheltering under
household rubbish.
Turning to Reptiles and firstly the Common
Lizard, this reptile continues to crop up
all over Essex where the habitat is suitable,
i.e. waste land with uncut mature grassland,
sea walls, hedgerows and verges and of course
nature reserves. Verge cutting has destroyed
some sites as flail cutters are lethal to
Lizards, and in Epping Forest numbers have
fallen in some areas where undergrowth has
taken over the plains and grassy areas.
However, it is still plentiful on the more
open Forest plains at Epping, in particular
Long Running. Many Lizards were reported
from Ashingdon at a derelict building site
and good numbers from a hedgerow at Heybridge.
Also, odd records from Harlow, Frating, Weeley,
Colchester and Holland Pits Reserve.
The Slow Worm, our other lizard, occurs in
the south west, south and east in the main,
being more scarce in the mid-Essex area and
the north. Again, its habitat requirements
are like the Common Lizard, rough grassland
but also ditch bottoms and compost heaps.
The animal is seldom seen out and about and
is found by looking under sheets of tin, wood,
etc. and often in mature compost heaps where
it loves to lie near the top where the warmth
is from the heap and the sun. By lightly
raking off the top Slow Worms can often be
seen as they slide away. Records for last
year include some new sites at Weeley,
Colchester and Holland Pits, and the Ashingdon
derelict building alongside the Common Lizards.
There was also a record from the Harlow Golf