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Amphibians are found in areas of wet heath. The rare
natterjack toad has large hind limbs designed for burrowing, and so favours
the sandy soils. Of the three British newt species, the palmate newt is
the one most commonly found on heathland as it has a greater tolerance
of the acidic pools.
Lowland heaths support the six reptiles native to
Britain. Reptiles are able to find food from the insects and small mammals
that live there. Reptiles are cold-blooded and need to bask in the sunshine
to raise their body temperature before they can be active. The thin sandy
soils warm up rapidly and make ideal basking grounds for reptiles such
as the adder, grass snake, slow-worm and the rare smooth snake.
Lowland heaths are rich in invertebrates. Insects that
are abundant during the summer months include ants, beetles, grasshoppers,
dragonflies, damselflies, bees, wasps and moths. Several species of butterfly
can be seen fluttering among the flowering heather and gorse during the
summer, most distinctive of which in the Coversands is the grayling, a
butterfly often as
sociated with sandy coastal locations. The Raft spider
(the largest spider in Britain)
can be found in pools on wet heath and
other species include the Wolf spider and Crab spider. Areas of wet heath
with small bogs and pools support most of the UK's 38 species of dragonfly.
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