Night at the Aviation Museum

I convinced our newt surveying team to push new frontiers on Monday, so it was over the site boundary and into the territory of the Gatwick Aviation Museum (with the curator Ashley's permission of course). Things seemed to start off so well, with a Common Toad vying for the spotlight...

I was at that moment we realised the Clulite torch hadn't actually charged up, and we were going to have to borrow Ashley's spotlight instead, which would suffice for the pools here, but not for the deeper Gatwick ponds...
   I also hadn't realised that my camera was on hybrid mode, so all my rubbish shots are accompanied by banal chat and bad language, sadly capturing none of my usual witticisms.

It was still a productive visit though, as we recorded four amphibian species, including a non-native; what we thought was a Marsh Frog, with its bright green dorsal stripe blending in well with the blanket weed.

Marsh Frog (Rana ridibunda) 

Our other two species were Common Frog and Smooth Newt. No owls were calling, but I did hear the nocturnal flight calls of some late-season Redwing.

Common Frog (Rana temporaria)

Thanks to Tom F, Rina and Ryan for giving up your evening!