British Newts

I am digging a pond and would like to populate it with a few newts.
Can anyone tell me anywhere in the North West where there is a poulation? I am a member of Lymm AC and Winsford AC but live in Bury at the moment. I have not seen a newt of any description for years!
Any ideas anyone?

moving newts is illegal because they are endangered. this probably explains why you haven't seen any either.

if they happen to populate your pond you'll be a lucky sod, but i have seen it happen.

They're all pissed and sleeping it off.
Seriously though they are becoming less common and that's why they are now a heavily protected specie. It is also now illegal to disturb their natural habitat or move them from one location to another without a special license.
The only thing I can suggest is that you make your pond as natural as possible and hope that a few wandering newts will find it and make it their home.

Blunderer the newts will in time come to you ensure there is a good amount of marginal weed growth for their breeding sites and in time they will get to you.

Good luck

I have had a couple in my pond, as well as frogs and toads but the koi will make short work of any spawn so I have built another pond as well which is just for amphibians

Does anyone know if it is also illegal to move newts in captivity (a garden pond). The reason I ask is that a friend has a pond that she intends to fill in, it is full of newts and she has asked if I would like them for my pond. If the newts are not moved when she fills the pond in, some are likely to get killed in the process and I assume the survivors will find a suitable pond within a few hundred yards as it is in a fairly built up area.

Swordsy - I also have frogs and toads spawning in my pond, last year I had 10 seperate clumps of spawn. I have found that the koi and ghosties will eat the emerging tadpoles but are not so keen to eat the spawn. I usually end up with a small number of surviving frogs.

it's illegal to fill the pond in mate, end of story.
filling it in would come under the destruction of habitat.

We dug a pond in the garden a couple of years ago, lined it with the rubber stuff and left a very boggy area around the back. Within weeks (possibly days) there were two newts in residence. We live in Bromley, Kent. South East London really!

I have four ponds in the garden which I dug a few years ago, in three of these ponds the newts actually breed every year, I have not introduced these but before I built the ponds my garden was a mess and you could find newts under stones. I have the Common Newt, the other British Newts are the smooth, the Palmate and the Great Crested all of which are regionally rare these days. The Common Newt looks a little like the Great Crested

Depends on the newts if it was a Great Crested Newt there'd be trouble moving them from their natural habitat even if it was your own garden pond beleive it or not. The common newt isn't so common now due to the destruction of natural habitats by developers. As others have advised, if there are newts, frogs and toads in your area, even an urban area, they will find your pond no problem, plenty of marginal plants do help. Its a strange cycle really as newts will eat fish eggs and frog spawn, koi will eat young newts as do toads and goldfish will eat just about anything! Newts wrap their eggs in vegatation under water so plants are essential. Being nocturnal its raer to see them in the daytime, having said that a friend had a pond and the newts would bask in the sunshine during the daylight hours on lilly pads! A quick look on an amphibians web site will give you more information regarding the movement of the common newt but forget the Great Crested Newt, no way are you allowed to disturb them.

Colin - not so unusual as you might think to have newts in Bromley. I used to live in Beckenham and had newts in my garden pond there. Am now north of the river and without a pond, but have seen them on Walthamstow marshes in summer.

Before I moved up here I lived in Walthamstow and had newts in my garden pond including a pair of Great Crested. When I sold the house I had to tell the new owner that he couldn't fill in the pond or change it in any way. The last I heard about six months ago the pond is still there and unchanged and he even advised the local council enviroment of the presence of the newts. It's nice to know I sold my house to someone who also enjoys having wildlife in his garden.

Nottmdon is correct only the GCN (Triturus cristatus) is protected in the UK the other two are not (Smooth newt (Triturus vulgaris) and Palmate (Triturus helveticus). That said, they would fall under the wildlife & countryside Act in a general catch all about damaging wildlife.

What pond owners and developer in particular need to understand about GCN is that not only is the animal protected but so is its total habitat. That includes over wintering hibernation quarters, foraging habitat and migration routes between ponds. GCN move quite freely between ponds naturally and instinctively to maintain the genetic pool. That movement can and quite often does include a territory of 500 metres from the birthing pool. All newts leave water in mid-summer and forage in surrounding grassland. They are NOT totally aquatic creatures, so if you come across them in August onwards don't take them back to water and put them in. There skin by this time has gone hard for the terrestrial phase of their yearly cycle.

Some GCN in their fist winter of life remain in the pond where they were born, only leaving in the second summer of their lives.

You do not commit an offence if you accidentally kill a GCN if you didn?t know they were present at the time you started any work in your garden. However, if a developer is building houses and such like on a plot of land that might possibly contain them, he will by the planning dept be asked to carryout an Ecological Assessment to establish whether they are present by qualified ecologist. This request acts as if they were present, and if he then kills them, is guilt of an offence under their protection status. Some householders may also be asked to have EA if they?re having extensions and the like done in an area known to contain them.

Blunder in the area where you live I wouldn?t worry you haven?t got newts yet they?ll find you in good time.

I think there should be a grant system in place to encourage the building and maintainence of garden ponds as these a the single most important feature when trying to attract wildlife into the garden.

I agree with Swordsy, gimme loads of money so that I can make an even bigger pond in my garden, 'cos its a sod when you have to pay for them yourself.

Smooth or Common Newts are now protected by law Phil in Great Britain against being sold or traded in any way. In Northern Ireland they are fully protected, this prohibits, killing, injuring, capturing, disturbance, possession or trade, the Palmate is also protected against being traded or sold in Britian

I wonder if I`m allowed to give a few away though?

Nick ALL British native wildlife is protected from being traded or sold under the WlCA and has been since 1988.
I did put in the rider of a general cover all under the act.

What the other two species are not covered by is the EU Red data Book listing as a rare species and the conventions brought in to protect such species.

Those being (1) The Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Known as the Bern Convention)(2)The EU Directive on Natural Habitats and wild Fauna and Flora - 92/43/EEC

In NI they are listed as a Red Data Book Species and the above Convention and Directive would apply.

When I was a kid, the next field to my Grandad's farm had a small natural pond in it. It was full of newts. There were two species if I remember, The Great Creasted and another one which was black and red, quite large and rough to the touch.

We caught them in nets and took them to school in jam jars.

We were also very naughty and occasionally used them as bait for perch in the local lake.

that would make sense Phil, must say it was nice to find newts breeding in my pond and it was only by accident that I netted one of the young a few years ago. As a child we used to catch newts on canes with string and worms tied on the end of the string, you would often catch two at a time, sadly all the ponds I fished in those days have since been taken over and developed, a great pity, these pits were fantastic learning grounds for kids.

We used to put everthing in jam jars Ron, sticklebacks being the most common of course.

I can remember my fathert taking me to Belle Vue Zoo as a child, so impressed was I, that the following week I made my own zoo in the back yard and had all my mates round. I had a series of jam jars containing sticklebacks, in one, newts in the next, worms in the next, maggots in another and some casters in another. In my mothers washing up bowl was a very sad looking frog, my mate brough his pet hamster round and I tied the dog up and painted stripes on it with a marker pen, not quite as exciting as Belle Vue Zoo, but the entrance fee was more user friendly!

T
Rhe stripes on the dog would wash out though, so we had to wait until they grew out, which took about six month, needless to say, I was banned from having Zoos at my house from then onwards?