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Fontburn Reservoir
Fontburn is a drinking water reservoir situated northwest of the market town of Morpeth, and immediately to the east of Harwood Forest in Northumberland, England. History The reservoir was built at the end of the 19th century to provide drinking water for parts of southeast Northumberland. Flora and fauna The north shore is mainly vegetated with scrub and woodland, including willow, blackthorn, elder, birch, hawthorn, and hazel. Common spotted orchids grow in the base-rich flushed areas. At the extreme south eastern corner of the site there is an area of marshy grassland with abundant meadow-sweet, wild angelica, common knapweed, and sneezewort and where there is periodic flooding of the shore you can also find species like common spike rush, reed canary grass, lesser spearwort, and amphibious bistort. The presence of four British reptiles; common lizard, adder, slowworm, and grass snake, and five of Britain’s native amphibians; common frog, common toad, sm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northumberland
Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on three sides; by the Scottish Borders region to the north, County Durham and Tyne and Wear to the south, and Cumbria to the west. The fourth side is the North Sea, with a stretch of coastline to the east. A predominantly rural county with a landscape of moorland and farmland, a large area is part of Northumberland National Park. The area has been the site of a number of historic battles with Scotland. Name The name of Northumberland is recorded as ''norð hẏmbra land'' in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, meaning "the land north of the Humber". The name of the kingdom of ''Northumbria'' derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to the people south of the Humber Estuary. History ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eleocharis Palustris
''Eleocharis palustris'', the common spike-rush, creeping spike-rush or marsh spike-rush, is a species of mat-forming perennial flowering plants in the sedge family Cyperaceae. It grows in wetlands in Europe, North Africa, northern and central Asia (Siberia, China, Mongolia, Iran, Nepal, etc.) and North America (United States, Canada, Greenland, northern Mexico). ''Eleocharis palustris'' is not easily distinguished from other closely related species and is extremely variable worldwide itself. The species epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ... ''palustris'' is Latin for "of the marsh" and indicates its common habitat.Archibald William Smith Subspecies and varieties Numerous names have been proposed for subspecies and varieties. The following are recognized: # ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Site Of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man. SSSI/ASSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in the United Kingdom are based upon them, including national nature reserves, Ramsar sites, Special Protection Areas, and Special Areas of Conservation. The acronym "SSSI" is often pronounced "triple-S I". Selection and conservation Sites notified for their biological interest are known as Biological SSSIs (or ASSIs), and those notified for geological or physiographic interest are Geological SSSIs (or ASSIs). Sites may be divided into management units, with some areas including units that are noted for both biological and geological interest. Biological Biological SSSI/ASSIs may ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Crested Newt
The northern crested newt, great crested newt or warty newt (''Triturus cristatus'') is a newt species native to Great Britain, northern and central continental Europe and parts of Western Siberia. It is a large newt, with females growing up to long. Its back and sides are dark brown, while the belly is yellow to orange with dark blotches. Males develop a conspicuous jagged crest on their back and tail during the breeding season. The northern crested newt spends most of the year on land, mainly in forested areas in lowlands. It moves to aquatic breeding sites, mainly larger fish-free ponds, in spring. Males court females with a ritualised display and deposit a spermatophore on the ground, which the female then picks up with her cloaca. After fertilisation, a female lays around 200 eggs, folding them into water plants. The larvae develop over two to four months before metamorphosing into terrestrial juveniles (efts). Both larvae and land-dwelling newts mainly feed on different ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palmate Newt
The palmate newt (''Lissotriton helveticus'') is a species of newt found in Western Europe, from Great Britain to the northern Iberian peninsula. It is long and olive or brown with some dark spots. The underside is yellow to orange, and the throat, unlike in the similar smooth newt, always unspotted. A dark stripe runs along the head and through the eyes. Breeding males develop a distinct filament on the end of their tail, strongly webbed hind feet, and a low, smooth crest on their back. Habitats include forests, marshes, pastures or gardens. While on land, the newts are mainly nocturnal. After emerging from hibernation in spring, they move to stagnant, fish-free water bodies for breeding. After a courtship display, the male deposits a spermatophore that is picked up by the female. Larvae develop over after 1.5–3.5 months before metamorphosing into land-dwelling juveniles (efts). Sexual maturity is reached after two to three years, and the newts can reach a total age of up ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Toad
The common toad, European toad, or in Anglophone parts of Europe, simply the toad (''Bufo bufo'', from Latin ''bufo'' "toad"), is a frog found throughout most of Europe (with the exception of Ireland, Iceland, and some Mediterranean islands), in the western part of North Asia, and in a small portion of Northwest Africa. It is one of a group of closely related animals that are descended from a common ancestral line of toads and which form a species complex. The toad is an inconspicuous animal as it usually lies hidden during the day. It becomes active at dusk and spends the night hunting for the invertebrates on which it feeds. It moves with a slow, ungainly walk or short jumps, and has greyish-brown skin covered with wart-like lumps. Although toads are usually solitary animals, in the breeding season, large numbers of toads converge on certain breeding ponds, where the males compete to mate with the females. Eggs are laid in gelatinous strings in the water and later hatch out into ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Frog
The common frog or grass frog (''Rana temporaria''), also known as the European common frog, European common brown frog, European grass frog, European Holarctic true frog, European pond frog or European brown frog, is a semi-aquatic amphibian of the family Ranidae, found throughout much of Europe as far north as Scandinavia and as far east as the Urals, except for most of Iberia, Southern Italy, and the southern Balkans. The farthest west it can be found is Ireland. It is also found in Asia, and eastward to Japan. The nominative, and most common, subspecies ''Rana temporaria temporaria'' is a largely terrestrial frog native to Europe. It is distributed throughout northern Europe and can be found in Ireland, the Isle of Lewis and as far east as Japan. Common frogs metamorphose through three distinct developmental life stages — aquatic larva, terrestrial juvenile, and adult. They have corpulent bodies with a rounded snout, webbed feet and long hind legs adapted for swimmin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grass Snake
The grass snake (''Natrix natrix''), sometimes called the ringed snake or water snake, is a Eurasian non-venomous colubrid snake. It is often found near water and feeds almost exclusively on amphibians. Subspecies Many subspecies are recognized, including: ''Natrix natrix helvetica'' ( Lacépède, 1789) was formerly treated as a subspecies, but following genetic analysis it was recognised in August 2017 as a separate species, ''Natrix helvetica'', the barred grass snake. Four other subspecies were transferred from ''N. natrix'' to ''N. helvetica'', becoming ''N. helvetica cettii'', ''N. helvetica corsa'', ''N. helvetica lanzai'' and ''N. helvetica sicula''. Description The grass snake is typically dark green or brown in colour with a characteristic yellow or whitish collar behind the head, which explains the alternative name ringed snake. The colour may also range from grey to black, with darker colours being more prevalent in colder regions, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anguis Fragilis
The slow worm (''Anguis fragilis'') is a reptile native to western Eurasia. It is also called a deaf adder, a slowworm, a blindworm, or regionally, a long-cripple and hazelworm. These legless lizards are also sometimes called common slowworms. The "blind" in blindworm refers to the lizard's small eyes, similar to a blindsnake (although the slowworm's eyes are functional). Slow worms are semifossorial (burrowing) lizards, spending much of their time hiding underneath objects. The skin of slow worms is smooth with scales that do not overlap one another. Like many other lizards, they autotomize, meaning that they have the ability to shed their tails to escape predators. While the tail regrows, it does not reach its original length. In the UK, they are common in gardens and allotments, and can be encouraged to enter and help remove pest insects by placing black plastic or providing places to shelter such as piles of logs, corrugated iron sheets or under tiles. On warm days, one or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vipera Berus
''Vipera berus'', the common European adderMallow D, Ludwig D, Nilson G. (2003). ''True Vipers: Natural History and Toxinology of Old World Vipers''. Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing Company. . or common European viper,Stidworthy J. (1974). ''Snakes of the World''. New York: Grosset & Dunlap Inc. 160 pp. . is a venomous snake that is extremely widespread and can be found throughout most of central and eastern Europe and as far as East Asia. Known by a host of common names including common adder and common viper, adders have been the subject of much folklore in Britain and other European countries. They are not regarded as especially dangerous; the snake is not aggressive and usually bites only when really provoked, stepped on, or picked up. Bites can be very painful, but are seldom fatal. The specific name, ''berus'', is New Latin and was at one time used to refer to a snake, possibly the grass snake, ''Natrix natrix''.Gotch AF. (1986). ''Reptiles: Their Latin Names Explaine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viviparous Lizard
The viviparous lizard, or common lizard, (''Zootoca vivipara'', formerly ''Lacerta vivipara''), is a Eurasian lizard. It lives farther north than any other species of non-marine reptile, and is named for the fact that it is viviparous, meaning it not only lays eggs, but also gives birth to live young. Both "''Zootoca''" and "''vivipara''" mean "live birth," in Greek and Latin respectively. It was called ''Lacerta vivipara'' until the genus ''Lacerta'' was split into nine genera in 2007 by Arnold, Arribas & Carranza. Male and female ''Zootoca vivipara'' are equally likely to contract blood parasites. Additionally, larger males have been shown to reproduce more times in a given reproductive season than smaller ones. The lizard is also unique as it is exclusively carnivorous, eating only flies, spiders, and insects. Studies show that the more carnivorous an individual is (the more insects they eat), the less diverse the population of parasitic helminths that infest the lizards. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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