A YOUNG wildlife lover who has been studying amphibians since he was just seven has been invited to address a prestigious scientific conference after making a "staggering" discovery.
At just 12 years old, Callum Ullman-Smith, a pupil at Auchtertyre Primary School near Kyle of Lochalsh, has been asked to share his expertise in herpetology, the study of amphibians and reptiles, with delegates at a symposium at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh on Sunday.
Callum is particularly interested in palmate newts, which are normally found in shallow ponds in acid-rich soils, and his research led him to discover a breeding population in salt water pools on the seashore.
The youngster, conducting his studies for three years, found the newts in nine rock pools on the sea shore on Loch Alsh across from Skye.
His mother, ecologist Janet Ullman, coordinator of the Highland Seashore Project which aims to raise awareness of seashore wildlife, said it was an unlikely environment for a breeding population of palmate newts.
She said: "He has been recording the total number of adults and their young (called efts) at each visit he makes. It is an unusual find because, as everyone knows, you find amphibians like newts in freshwater. We are more familiar with them breeding in our local ponds and even in water-filled wheel ruts."
Some guidebooks say that occasionally an adult newt can be spotted on the coast. "But no mention had been made of them breeding there," she said.
"The fact that there is a population of newts that can cope with the conditions these rock pools face every day is staggering. Often this part of the coast is lashed by high waves, the rock pools often flooded by wave-tossed seaweeds or left dry and baked in the hottest of summers. Yet every month from April onwards newts come to do their breeding dance and lay their eggs."
The three years of hard work started with an email to Callum from David O'Brien, herpetological recorder for the Highlands. He had a letter from a German herpetologist who had found the larval stage of palmate newts beside Loch Linnhe near Fort William in April 2011, while on holiday.
Callum went with his mother as driver and found adult newts in two tiny rock pools on the lochside. Then when a friend said she had seen an adult newt beside the Lochalsh, Callum found his rock pool newts.
Callum is nervous but honoured, so did a dry run in class. "There were lots of questions from my friends."
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