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!
A medium sized garden pond nearby was filled in last year by the owner. (I saved another one next door from the same fate this spring). It was home to frogs and Great Crested newts, as well as numerous other creatures like dragon and damsel flies. I had wondered why I had seen so few frogs this year, and have only recently discovered the tragedy. Don't suppose there's anything we can do now? I'm digging a small pond in my garden, and hoping the newts will find it.