Webster's Wildlife



		As mentioned we have an abundance of wildlife at the back of our house, we get the most pleasure from the reptiles and amphibians.

			We don't have a pond as such but do have a couple of containers that we have put out with aerating plants and pond snails to keep things clean. We have a large colony of palmate newts which are thriving, here you can see one of the many youngsters from this year, you can still see the vestiges of its gills at the back of its head.

			Here Carol is modelling newts in adult and juvenile styles. They spend the daytime either in the 'ponds' or underneath / in-between the patio slabs in our back garden. They normally come out about 10pm to feed on slugs which they are more than welcome to.

			This is part of our main 'pond' with one of our summer visitors, we see a few frogs in the summer months but I imagine that they spend the winter in larger bodies of water. We also have a number of toads which tend to stay around longer than the frogs, they also help keep the slug and snail numbers down.

		We really enjoy stepping out together in the late evening, especially in the summer, to see what amphibians we can spot.

			Obi was acting strangely one day this summer near the french windows, when Carol went to investigate we had a common lizard in our lounge !! We kept it for a couple of days to make sure that it was eating and drinking OK and then let it go, hopefully it went on to breed as I'd love to see more of these not so common lizards. The summer before this, Obi was acting very strange around the rear fence for a few days eventually we found what it was that was bothering him - a grass snake who was obviously helping itself to the abundant amphibians. It stayed for a number of weeks and then we never saw it again, which is a shame.

		In addition to the cold blooded creatures we have foxes, squirrels, woodmice, buzzards and a large variety of birds that inhabit the land adjoining our property and the claypit. We want to get some binoculars to identify the different birds that visit our back garden to feed on the nuts and seeds we leave out for them, and compile a list.