ASK AN ECO ACTIVIST

This month Harvey Tweats (above right), half of a teenage duo set on rewilding Britain with reptiles and amphibians

ARE OUR FROGS REALLY IN PERIL?

Sadly, yes. Three years ago, I was doing work experience on the River Otter in Devon where beavers have been reintroduced. They create perfect habitats for amphibians, but there were none to be seen. It made me think, ‘Where did all the frogs go?’ Both reptiles and amphibians play a vital role in our ecosystem but many native species, such as the moor frog and European pond turtle, are now extinct. Even the common toad has declined by 68 per cent since 1970 because ponds have been filled in and wetlands drained.

SO YOU WANT TO BRING THEM BACK?

That’s the idea. Derek Gow [one of the conservationists leading the beaver reintroduction programme [featured in our April issue] told me that the only way many can be recovered is through captive breeding. So that’s what my friend Tom Whitehurst [above left] and I decided to do. We began breeding species such as the European frog in our gardens while revising for our GCSES.

YOU’RE AT SCHOOL AND IN A BUSINESS?

Thanks to funding from rewilding pioneers such as Ben Goldsmith and Charlie Burrell of the Knepp Estate, we were able to set up our business, Celtic Reptile & Amphibian, last September. We chose that name because we want reptiles to be as abundant as they were when the Celtic people were around. Now it’s the UK’S biggest outdoor reptile and amphibian breeding project.

HOW MANY CREATURES DO YOU HAVE?

We started small but now we have 2,000 European frogs, toads, newts and lizards. This year, we moved out of the back garden to half an acre of land ten minutes’ walk from where we live. We have ponds, greenhouses, cabins and a massive escape-proof fence.

DO YOU RE-HOME THEM?

We sell some to hobbyists and others are used for education, but our dream is to see rewilding projects like Wildeast in East Anglia and Wild Ken in Norfolk repopulate with these species, starting with the moor frog. I think it would capture people’s imaginations because the males turn bright blue during breeding season. They look like aliens that have fallen into a lake.

ALWAYS BEEN A SUPER-FAN OF FROGS?

I like all animals but reptiles and amphibians fascinate me. Loving nature is in my DNA: as a child, I bred stick insects and got a tortoise when I was nine. I kept pythons when I was older.

DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK IT’S COOL?

They’re really supportive. It helps that Tom and I aren’t too nerdy. Young people want to make a change. Before lockdown, I needed a pond to be dug, so I said, “Beer and bacon butties for anyone who can help.” I had lots of volunteers!

AND YOUR FAMILY?

Over lockdown, looking after the reptiles and studying for my A-levels from my family home in Staffordshire, with three siblings, was a bit of a nightmare! Thankfully, our parents are really helpful. Our dads even help to build our enclosures.

SO IS UNI NEXT?

There’s a course at Manchester on zoology with business, which sounds perfect. Tom is thinking about studying finance. But with the business going so well, we’re focusing on that for now. One thing’s for sure: we will bring these animals back. Our hope is to see 10,000acre wetlands reverberating with the sound of croaking frogs. We call ourselves ‘restorationists’ rather than conservationists: we don’t want to conserve what we’ve got, we want to restore what we’ve lost.