TR13 - The Fish and Herptiles of Thorne Moors

Second Edition Published 2008, incorporating a complete revision and inclusion of latest records Pp.[1]-48, including three appendices. monochrome frontispiece and one figure

Following discussion within the Thorne & Hatfield Moors Conservation Forum, it was considered that greater survey effort should be encouraged on the amphibians and reptiles of these moorlands. The Humberhead Levels support a rich herptile fauna (Sunter 2006), and Thorne and Hatfield Moors are key sites for reptiles. As there was also a requirement for a modern collation of records of both freshwater fish and herptiles from Thorne Moors, this Technical Report is therefore timely. It can be used as a source of available data, and as a basis for future monitoring. Habitat change due to conservation management will be progressively apparent in the years to come, and baseline data are increasingly necessary. Within this framework, any future attention on Thorne Moors should build on the effort undertaken in recent decades, and this is facilitated by the present publication. It is clear that much of the work undertaken hitherto remains surprisingly unknown. The report produced from the Biodiversity Management Scoping Project for English Nature (Penny Anderson Associates 2000), looked at future research needs for Thorne and Hatfield Moors. For the reptiles and amphibians, it was stated:
The situation regarding herptiles is equally deficient. Several of the species are characteristic mire and heath species. The distribution of adders for example, needs to be gauged in order to judge whether rewetting is likely to affect their hibernation banks and their population. In addition, the location of great crested newt inside and outside the SSSI needs to be clarified.
Much more is known, especially of herptiles, than this report suggests. For example, for Thorne Moors there is detailed information on the distribution of the Adder, and there can be little doubt that the Great Crested Newt has been extirpated on and alongside the moorland. The first general summary of the freshwater fish and herptiles of Thorne Moors was Limbert (1980), with additional records given in Limbert (1985), and further amphibian records in Limbert (1987) and Limbert and Wainwright (2003). Also relevant are Limbert (1991b, 1998). In addition, unpublished annual reports produced for the Nature Conservancy Council, English Nature and Natural England detail 1980-83 (T.J. Wells), then 1992 to date for reptiles (S. Hiner) and 1992-2003 for amphibians (B.P. Wainwright). There was also an unpublished general report for the THMCF that covered 1990 (Howes 1991). Most recently, the annual Thorne Moors Vertebrates Report has been available for 2004-07 (M. Limbert), including reptile data. In addition, unpublished reptile data for 2008 are incorporated here.
The moorland boundary has been deliberately interpreted somewhat loosely, to include peripheral farmland and drains, and the whole of the area influenced by Thorne Colliery. 'Thorne Waste' is here defined as the part of Thorne Moors within Thorne parish, but early allusions to "Thorne Waste" will probably be synonymous with the whole of Thorne Moors. The remaining parish divisions are Snaith & Cowick Moor, Rawcliffe Moor, Goole Moor and Crowle Moor. Most of Thorne Moors is situated in Yorkshire, the exceptions being Crowle Moor and - since 1993 - the Yorkshire Triangle, which lie in Lincolnshire.

Despite the increase in size of the report compared with the first edition the price has been reduced from £3.50 to only £3.00

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