A strange-looking denizen of the deep, a bit warty and the bane of developers and road-building schemes... it's true to say that newts haven't got the best image. Former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone is often mocked for liking them!
Perhaps that makes me the Ken Livingstone of The Lodge then, because I'm the great crested newt's biggest fan. If you have a garden pond with great cresteds in it and will be ticking the box for Make Your Nature Count this week, I am envious in the extreme.
Have a look at the splendid breeding male newt in the picture above. Isn't he gorgeous?
To me that's a mini-dragon or an aquatic Stegosaurus. Such lovely white speckles and orangey-yellow belly. The stripes on his toes. A splendidly jagged crest. Long frilly tail with a silver go-faster stripe. I could go on... and on.
The females are less showy but often look pretty impressive, especially when they're 'gravid' - bulging and ready to lay eggs. They remind me of a small-scale crocodile as they cruise around underwater.
When I dug a pond in my old garden a few years ago, I was astonished and delighted when great crested newts turned up and started breeding. Here's one of the tiny baby newts, called an eft.
I've moved house since, but because of the strict legal protection that great cresteds and their habitats enjoy, my pond legacy should be protected for years to come. Whoopee!
For more about great crested newts, have a listen to our mini-podcast.
Listen!
Hi Angela. The ARC Trust website states: Due to enormous declines in range and abundance in the last century, the great crested newt is strictly protected by British and European law which makes it an offence to: kill, injure, capture or disturb them; damage or destroy their habitat; and to possess, sell or trade. This law refers to all great crested newt life stages, including eggs.
I think it might be too late to be able to prove an offence took place when the pond next door was destroyed, but maybe it'd be worth you contacting your local police Wildlife Crime Officer for advice?
But I'm sure you'd stand a good chance of attracting great crested newts to your new pond. When I dug mine it was only a matter of a few months before they found it, and I didn't even know they were in the area!
The Pond Conservation website has lots of good stuff including advice on great crested newts and their habitats: www.pondconservation.org.uk/.../Amphibians.pdf
Good luck!