{"id":37885,"date":"2024-06-20T11:07:58","date_gmt":"2024-06-20T09:07:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/1f9b4614-3f77-4097-8e87-2d36f0085b5a"},"modified":"2024-06-20T12:26:44","modified_gmt":"2024-06-20T10:26:44","slug":"great-crested-newt-habits-habitats-and-conservation","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/rss_feed\/great-crested-newt-habits-habitats-and-conservation\/","title":{"rendered":"Great crested newt: habits, habitats and conservation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Discover more about this fascinating amphibian, which could even be in your garden <\/p>

By <\/p>

Published: Thursday, 20 June 2024 at 09:07 AM<\/p>

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The great crested newt, the UK’s largest newt species, is an amphibious wonder.<\/strong> Wildlife writer, Adele Brand<\/a>, explains why.<\/strong><\/p>

Great crested newt, triturus cristatus. Credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>

What is a great crested newt?<\/h2>

There is no disputing that the great crested newt is a head-turner. Nothing else in the British Isles comes so close to impersonating a toy Spinosaurus: stocky body, bumpy skin and preposterous little forelimbs. <\/p>

It can regenerate limbs and, if faced with a predator, can excrete a poisonous toxin from their skin.<\/p>

How big is a great crested newt?<\/h2>

Any confusion with smooth and palmate newts \u2013 which are much more likely to exploit garden ponds \u2013 ends when the adult great crested steps on a ruler. A big female can reach 17cm, although the males are a little smaller. <\/p>

What does a great crested newt look like?<\/h2>

Silvery black when seen from above, their bellies are garish leopard-print with unique patterns of spots. Researchers use this to identify individuals, rather like a police officer will note a suspect\u2019s tattoos.<\/p>

By late summer, adult newts have strayed from the water\u2019s edge, experiencing grass and trees from what we would barely call ankle-height. To a newt, 100 metres is an epic journey. To us, it is a lesson in the fine details of the landscape, of the subtle value of ditches, mammal burrows and old rotting wood.<\/p>

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A male great crested newt with it’s distinctive dinosaur-like spine, and white-striped tail. Credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>

And then there is the crest. A male newt does not skimp on style for the breeding season. His back is crowned by a jagged crest that resembles a panorama of some fearsome mountain range, and his long tail is striped white. <\/p>

When are you likely to see a great crested newt?<\/h2>

Between March – October.<\/p>

Where do great crested newts live?<\/h2>

This rambler sets forth when the skies are dark and vegetation is bowed with summer drizzle, accumulating steps between disused mineral pits, old grasslands and fish-free ponds.<\/p>

Great crested newts \u2013 perhaps our most unsung hikers (they can roam as far as 1km) \u2013 take to dry land as their breeding season finishes around the end of June, leaving ponds to their spotted, frilly-gilled, ever-hungry tadpoles. <\/p>