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Hi All,
Doggie aka Chris kindly told me this is the forum I should be posting on so if you see this on two discussion threads, please accept my apologies!
I am very lucky to have three ponds in my garden. One is very shallow and the birds frequently come to this one to drink and bathe. The second is about 2 and a half feet deep and is the one favoured by frogs, toads and newts. We were incredibly lucky this year and had hundreds and hundreds of toad spawn (black pearl necklaces) as I call them, resulting in hundreds of tiny toads, which appears to have gone against the norm for this years conditions.
At one point there were 17 toads in the pond. The youngsters and some older ones are now frequently making me jump when I am gardening and disturb them from their hiding places. I have had to apologise so many times and can frequently be heard to say 'Sorry Toad'. I am certain my neighbours must think I'm totally crackers! My 3rd pond is 3 foot deep and that is where my husbands goldfish live.
Anyway back to the newts! We obviously had more newt eggs in the pond than I realised as I keep coming across newts hiding amongst my various plug plants that I am growing on in plant pots ready for next year. Despite keeping looking at pictures of newts both in books and online I have discovered I am totally useless at identifying them and wondered if anybody could help please? The one in the picture above has an orange stripe down either side of it's underbelly. (Apologies this is my first post with photos and I somehow got the photos in the wrong places but I'm sure you will get the gist)
Hi Sunnygirl and welcome
Looks liky a Smooth newt to me, probably male.
Once mated and eggs laid they will leave the water and hide in places you describe and will hibernate through the winter. A very nice creature to have in the garden
Ray
a good laugh is better than a tonic
Thanks Ray,
We are very proud of the Newts that come to our garden, even if I am rubbish at identifying them. Love our toads too and I am curious to see how many we get next spring after all the toad spawn that made it into fully formed toads, especially as they are reported to return to the pond they were born in. If they do we are going to be inundated!
The vast majority will become food for other wildlife before they reach maturity. That's the reason Toads , along with many other creatures , produce so many offspring. In nature , if you produce just one baby that outlives yourself you have been successful in doing your bit to ensure the survival of your species.
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