2005 - Whitby Naturalists

i shall not describe newts as I am sure il is not rrcccssary. We have
three species, the common or smooth newt (crlrurus uulgdris), the
northern crested newt (rrdCurus cristatus), which is the largest of the
three and rare, and the paimate newt (triatrws helveticus). The
palmate is the smallest of the three bur difficult to tell at a glance fi:om
the srnooth newt. As they are iess likely tc' occut than smooth newts
in our area I shall assume that reports of "newts" are of smcoth nelvts
unless yoli specifi/ one Of rhe gttrers. Af rimes of the year when ncwts
are living on dry laml their skin is dry and trfien described as velvcty.
Pcgple whc, expect nc$'ts to be alwavs wet maY thcn think thel' have
encountered a different animai such as a lizard.
MEMBERS' REPORTS OF AMPHIBIA.
Frogs. Frogs are tire earliest of our amprhibia to breed every spring and
scveral mem-bers reporterl hogs in ponr.ls in February' There were
breeding frogs in a plncl in Sieights on the 1l"t'. They wt3le not ail seer,
to be mating so carly .hut I lnderstand that the males arrivc first in
ponds and they may havc been waiting for females to arrive' If ycu
remember we had some mild weather {bllowed by an extrerrrely colci
spell from the 1?,r' ro the 25*' of Fcbruary during which the frogs
disappeared. On thc 26,n between 20 and 30 were reported in the pond
near the old allotments near Mayfield rohd, behind the new trcruses. I
counted at least 50 there on March 7'r'. Some desultory mating behaviour
was appafent. Thcy werc all a dark oliveArorrrrrish color.rr' Not all
trogs were seen in ponds even in the spring: one member repe''rted a
distincdy "green" frcg sitting crn a galden path in Whitby"
After mating frogs leave the ponds and can be scen almost anywhere.
An adult was seen in a pond in Aislaby in May and on the same date
onc was aiso seen in a garden in the West Cliff area of \ilhitb,v. InJune
one was seen bv somc membels on one of the club walks in woodland
(Muigrave woods). Also in late June I saw a small adult frog at the
lrottcim of a clear stteam on the rnoors between Littlcbeck and the
main road (A 169). It was very paie, almost white in colour and lay still
with all its limbs splayed out. I thought it was dead but it moved ofl
fast enough when distr-rrbed.