Publication date: 28th August 2025

ARC's Saving Scotland's Amphibians and Reptiles Education Officer, Janet Ullman tells us about her monthly radio segment sharing stories and advice about Scotland's fascinating wildlife.

I’ve had an on/off relationship with local radio over my years working for various community trusts and organisations. It’s a medium I enjoy, where I can communicate my love for natural history and the environment with enthusiasm. I had worked with Radio Skye on a couple of projects and done the odd interview here and there. It was while chatting with Radio Skye Station Manager, Producer and my good friend, Suzy Lee, we hit upon the idea of a monthly segment based on my work as ARC’s Education Officer for Scotland, under the Saving Scotland’s Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAAR) project. We decided it would form part of the Tuesday Drive Time, when folk are getting kids to school and going to work, figuring a few stories and an incentive to explore the countryside would be a pleasant distraction from the morning grind.

I feel that no other group of species have a more reliable schedule then our beloved native herpetofauna (amphibians and reptiles), which makes them the natural stars of any monthly nature radio show update. From the first stirrings of Spring in February, the mating rush and summer basking, to that last burst of energetic scrambling for fat reserves in the Autumn, our amphibians and reptiles are the stars of our gardens, hedgerows, crofts and ponds. Coupled with a few other key monthly flora and fauna events, it is easy to fill 10 if not a 15-minute radio segment. Even thinking about winter there are lots of things to cover, from pond maintenance and the fact we get the odd warm day with emergent adders and common lizards basking on snow, a fact of life up here. The lochans (small lochs) and ponds often have over wintering efts and tadpoles and that is another key feature of normal amphibian life this far north.

I try to bring in a lot of my experiences into my scripts, often basing them on the events, surveys and the odd occurrences in my day to day working life across Scotland. However, a lot of my broadcast time is spent on what I have seen, experienced and been told in Co-op during a shopping trip, there is no scarcity of stories. Being the Highlands of Scotland, you can always expect the unexpected, for example the fact that the palmate newt is no stranger to parts of our coastline and quite the upper rock pool resident. Toads are often reported to me as being in the most bizarre of places from walking past a hill walker on a Munroe path (A mountain over 194.4 metres) and on the small islands a wee boat ride across from the mainland. 

This summer a lot of broadcast time was spent on the seemingly ever-growing number of adders being seen on Skye. There was a bit of a panic about dogs being bitten. The radio segment allowed me to get some advice out about living with adders, basically keeping dogs on a lead in heather and bracken. This enabled me to be contacted by a few people and get the ARC Adam the Adder leaflet out to a few key places.

The other star of my monthly segments has been a furry one. In the Highlands where there are amphibians there are otters dining on them. At the new pond and wetland site on the Plock of Kyle my sons Patrick and Cally and I found a half chewed palmate newt, where we could happily envisage the local otter lying back having a snack in the sweet water of the ponds after a day between skerries (small rocky islets). It is common to find shiny patches around the lochs in Spring. They look like stars that have fallen to earth. On inspection these are the glistening slimy innards of toad reproductive organs where otters have scooped out the best bits. However, over time I’ve noticed otters are getting better at skinning toads and are consuming more of the animal. Next month’s broadcast will include how a delightful pond dip at Laide, with lots of emergent toadlets also included a soup of toad intestines and skins, thanks to the local otter. Luckily Highland kids are a hardy lot, and it was all I could to stop them searching for intestines!

I must thank the wonderful team that is Radio Skye and especially Suzy Lee my producer, for the opportunity to spread the joy of these delightful Scottish species to so many folks across the Isle of Skye and Lochalsh. I hope to keep sharing odd stories and fascinating facts for as long as they want me to and for as long as people tell me their herpetofauna stories.

Listen on the first Tuesday of each month to the Radio Skye Breakfast Show with Suzy.