CGO Ecology has been tasked with moving a population of reptiles to save them from a quarry development. Several hundred common lizards and a small number of grass snakes are expected in the capture exercise that will take place in July 2010. The reptiles occupy an area of pasture and quarry slopes at the Headon china clay quarry complex near Cornwood on the southwest edge of Dartmoor. A new phase of quarry working means they will have to be moved to a restored slope adjacent to the nearby Portsworthy works, where gorse removal has increased the habitat's carrying capacity for reptiles.

China clay working has been a major part of the local economy in this part of Devon for more than a century. The landscape is very distinctive, with large man-made settling lakes and mountainous tips of waste from previous phases that quickly restore themselves to wild moorland habitat.

The quarry operators, Sibelco, are currently working to full capacity to produce high-quality china clay and derivatives including paper additives. CGO Ecology is working on behalf of Sibelco's ecological advisers, Andrews Ecology. We carried out similar mitigation works on other parts of the same quarry complex in 2008 and 2009. Over 500 common lizards, slow-worms, grass snakes and adders were moved to specially-prepared receptor areas.