As the field season drew to a close in late October, far-flung places beckoned for me. With work generally fairly slack over the winter period, I prefer to use the opportunity to travel, see new places, new cultures, landscapes, wildlife, and combine this with a spot of 'continued professional development' along the way. I'm currently in Zanzibar, the famous Spice Islands off the coast of Tanzania in the Indian Ocean.

The current spell of warm and sunny weather is showing signs of becoming a longer phase of unseasonably mild weather, and the term 'Indian Summer' is already being banded about. With several days of sunny weather forecast ahead, daily air temperatures are expected to exceed 20°C.

Natural England has issued a news update on the submission and processing of EPS licence applications in England. Entitled "EPS Mitigation Licensing: Latest Developments – August 2010", the note is available as a pdf here.

[NOTE added 20/03/2014: This article was originally written in 2010, but is equally pertinent today. If your planning authority or other official body has asked you for an ecology report, it is imperative that you seek a good ecologist to do this. We work quickly, effectively and reasonably. Contact or 07846 137346 for an immediate quote].

Dorset Amphibian and Reptile Network (DARN) now has a Facebook group. Join the group and add any herp-related news or suggestions, or contact us to be added to the DARN email circulation list. DARN will also have a website soon, thanks to funding from Amphibian and Reptile Groups of the UK (ARG UK) and the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust (ARC). It should be up and running within a few weeks. The website will have an online recording function (with data passed on to ARC and DERC in due course). In the meantime, continue to use the Facebook group to post your herp photos, comments, suggestions, news and other items.