WOO HOO!! Great Crested newts!!

[donia]

So I've finally got time to go along for some amphibian surveys and have hooked up with the London ARG and Froglife to volunteer my time. Missed the toad patrols unfortunately, but have been very lucky to go along for some newt surveying - looks like my summer will be all booked doing this!

Basically, we are just trying to establish where Great Cresteds so that we then have the opportunity to better manage their habitats and maybe increase their range.

Here's some pictures or our day and night time findings..........

Male smooth newt

Mixed batch of smooths

The girls

The smooth look outs!

Female smooth that had 2 stump front legs and 1 deformed back leg - not sure how she managed on land with only 1 good leg??

And finally some Great Cresteds!

A big adult male in full bloom. He was kind enough to just sit there whilst I faffed with the camera.....

Didn't get a good shot of a single female - there was a very odd sex ratio going on, with usually double the males counted (maybe the females were hiding in deeper waters laying eggs??). Anyway, to end a gruesome note, here is the only female picture I got. It is of a male and female GCN eating a smooth newt.........

Enjoy!

 

[Azhael]

Very nice!!!
I find L.vulgaris to be absolutely gorgeous.

 

[John]

Welcome to the forum, Donia, and thank you for sharing your photos.

 

[donia]

Thanks John! Though I have been a member for about a year now

GCN are lovely, Azhael, but the smallness of the smooths makes them much cuter I think! Will be doing these surveys all summer, and will hopefully have a newt licence by the end of it.

Out of interest, we counted the most GCN in a pond on a golf course - odd, as I wouldn't have expected that (chemical run off from treated grass??), although I suppose the pond isn't disturbed much.......And we counted over 300 smooths in one pond in West London - I'd love to know how many were actually in there!