Dronfield Eye Issue 221 May 2024

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dronfield EYE Look for exotic newts in your garden An adult Alpine newt discovered by Ian in his garden and, right, the protected great crested newt Prof Ian Rotherham introduces us to tiny, but exciting, creatures which may be in your garden I HAVE mentioned newts previously and highlighted my suspicion that they are capable of decimating frog populations. We do have three native species of newt, and all occur across our region. Most common is the smooth newt with the female slightly larger than the male, but the latter sports a crest during the breeding season and a yellowy-orange belly. The adults range from around thee to four inches in length and their skin is smooth and moist. The dark-coloured males with zagged, breeding-season crests are frequently mistaken for crested newts which they are not. Indeed, they are much smaller than their speciallyprotected cousins. The baby newts, called larvae, are tiny, almost translucent creatures and when recently hatched, have gills to breathe with. These can be present in your pond without you ever knowing unless you look very hard. Furthermore, all the newts lay single eggs, usually curled inside a folded bit of pondweed. Again, this means that unlike frogs with their massed spawn and toads with their strings of eggs, newts are not obvious and can arrive with imported plants or other pond materials. The least common native newt is the palmate which is small, and has a more pointed nose, no crest at all, and in the case of the male, there is a needle-like protrusion at the end of the tail. This is used during courtship as the male wafts pheromones towards the female and she is perhaps enticed by the movement. Palmate newt males have webbed rear feet. They are restricted often to moorland fringe ponds, but I used to have them in a wildlife garden when I lived at Charnock on the edge of the Moss Valley, although historically, that would have been 36 close to the moorland edge. The specially-protected species is the great crested or ‘warty’ newt, and this is subject to both European and British legislation. These animals are impressively large, up to five or six inches, maybe more, with a rough, dark skin on the upper back, head and tail, and bright yellow-orange underside with black spots. In breeding condition, the male has a distinctive crest along the back and then also along the tail. You may mistake other species for crested newts, but if you do see one, they are unmistakable. However, I did think I had great crested newts in my garden, although they didn’t seem ‘right’, and the larvae in particular, were odd. It turns out that we have a population of the exotic alpine newt introduced and naturalised and apparently spreading across the region. Similar to, but smaller than, great crested newts, alpines are dark and warty on top and yellow underneath but lacking the distinctive black spots. The larvae are large and dark black. I first came across these whilst clearing out my ponds one winter and the adults were hibernating in the mud. They are exciting to find, and I now have records away from Norton and as far as Greenhill. So, if you think you have them do let me know and, ideally, send a photograph. They are up to about fourand-a-half inches long and have stunningly marbled markings. The downside is that alpine newts will clear out a pond of frog tadpoles in about a day. It is illegal to release them into the wild. Prof Ian D. Rotherham, researcher, writer, broadcaster on wildlife and environmental issues is contactable on ianonthewildside@ukeconet.org ; follow his website and blog: www.ukeconet.org & ianswalkonthewildside. wordpress.com/ & Twitter @IanThewildside Adult Alpine newt’s underbelly
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Dronfield Eye Issue 221 May 2024

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