The Common...

[benjamin]

I live near a common which is home to every brittish species of amphibian except the natterjack toad. I went there a couple days ago but didn't see too much, here are some pics:

A large pond filled with toads-

A picture of a toad taken through murky waters

Some frog spawn in a smaller pond.

 

[benjamin]

Here are some more pics I took today:

here's a frog in one of the ponds-

here's another toad-

A toad on land-

Toads in amplexus-

and I know this is not an amphibian, but pretty cool anyway (and unusual this early in the year), a slow worm-

 

[chris]

In pic #3 (the one b4 the toads in amplexus)is the leg broken, or maybe a defect?

 

[suzanne]

Nice pic's.

you shore thats a slow worm, looks to big, and more like a grass snake to me. ( could be my eye's though.)

 

[kyle]

I know its not a snake... and I'm not sure what a slow worm is referring to exactly, but technically that is not a worm at all either (as I'm sure you know, and slow worm is a common name of some sort) but it is a legless lizard! Ophisaurus is the genus.. couldn't tell you the exact species for sure, but I think there is only one or two in Europe? Anyone else know anything about these guys?

 

[benjamin]

It's definately a slow worm. Grass snakes are dark with yellowish markings behind the head, and their tails end in a point rather than a rounded off bump. I have some pictures of a very large grass snake (1meter) that lives in my garden but I cant find it.

The toad on land I was a bit worried about, she seemed to be bumbling her way along to the pond and her leg looked as though it was dislocated. I thought of helping her by carrying her, but she was moving at a fairly fast speed and was with in 100 feet of a pond, so I assume she made it.

 

[william]

we brits call this species of legless lizard, a slow worm

 

[tomas]

It is Anguis fragilis, it isn't Ophisaurus

 

[rubén]

Great Ben_

it's always interesting to see amphibians in the wild.

 

[mike]

Very nice to see those amphibians out!

 

[kyle]

ah, thank you for the correction Tomas! After looking closer I definitely see the head shape is different from the Ophisaurus.

 

[francesco]

Benjamin
how did you take the picture underwater?

 

[benjamin]

Thank you for the compliments.

The under water pics are really hard, especially when the water is murky. I needed to find a good spot in the shade of a tree where the sky wasn't reflecting off the surface. Once I got the picture on the computer I bumped up the contrast loads. But because of the water's surface the picture is still blurry, I'm thinking of making a device, perhaps a flower pot with a large drainage hole covered with some sort of plastic sheet so I could avoid distortions and reflections caused by a rippling water surface.

 

[carl]

im sure that isnt a sloworm it is way to long and skinny but dont listen to me i dont no much lol

 

[andy]

That is without doubt a slow worm (Anguis Fragilis)

 

[ralf]

Benjamin, you might want to consider buying a so-called polarisation filter for your camera-lens for taking pictures near (or through) a water surface. On the other hand, using a large clay flower-pot with a drainage hole, might have the positive side-effect of increasing muscle-mass in your arms.

 

[benjamin]

Well I managed to design something a little more practical for this purpose.

Basically a small piece of a toilet paper roll with cling film at one end. I have yet to take a good picture with it though as all the pictures I have taken so far the animals have been too close.

 

[michael]

<font color="ff0000">I moved this to the Anuran photo gallery due to the content-Ben, please use reserve use of the main photo gallery to caudata-oriented photos</font>~Mike