Newts - so many in my pond!

Nelliemoser I remember our local Sheffield rivers being so polluted by sewerage and heavy industry they would not sustain any life. They were effectively dead. With the demise of heavy industry and tighter regulation on what goes into the water, they are now back to full health and full of coarse fish, and clean water species such as brown trout, grayling and even salmon. When I was a child there were certainly brown things floating down our local river, but they weren't trout! This is due in no small part as you say to professional environmentalists, but also to groups of ordinary individuals who did, and still do, their bit to clean up, monitor and maintain the waterways and fish passes.

We sometimes see salamanders - are they a kind of newt?
Nelliemoser - I remember the signs of pollution in rivers. But worse, in the rock pools near us. Don't ask what was floating in them, brought in at high tide, until they built a new pumping station to send the sewage further out to sea.

When I was growing up we had a pond just beyond our back garden fence. The pond was a magnet for wildlife as well as the usual water fowl, there were loads of newts, I was completely fascinated by them, particularly remember the crested ones. Newts for me are always synonomous with childhood. I can't remember the last time I saw one.

That sounds great. Does any one remember places where detergent foam and God knows what other chemicals were bubbling about in rivers and weirs?
Thank heavens for environmentalists. Our countryside would be in a mess without them. So many of our once polluted rivers are now in good health.

I don't have a pond, or newts, but we have a bit of a natural wetland going on at the bottom end of where we live, and the fact that there are crested newts there is currently holding up the building of 200 new houses. They are going to great lengths to move the newts so that they can drain the land and start building. I hope the newts refuse to found and moved for as long as possible! Question is, how do you know when you have found them all?

Sounds like you have a very healthy pond. We also have newts, some seem to have a crest.I have found this.

What to do if you have great crested newts on your land

If you are lucky enough to have great crested newts on your land you should contact your local Biological Records Centre or Amphibian and Reptile Group. This will add valuable detail to the known distribution of great crested newts, helping to focus conservation efforts.

www.jprenvironmental.co.uk/great_crested_newt_endangered_species_profile.htm

Not an expert icy but it does look like a great crested.

A few years back a thriving colony of cresteds & others were found in disused brickpits near us & MUCH was made of conservation efforts to successfully secure the site - Froglife were very much involved.
I've only ever had a solitary smooth "transiting" through my garden.....that or the heron got him!!

TriciaF - toads - handsome creatures don't you think?!

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Thank you both - I used Froglife to identify them, so now I'm chasing up the closest Amphibian and Reptile Group. Sadly there isn't one in my county, but I should be able to get hold of someone by email. I am trying to add photos - the first one may be Great Crested, burying hims of in weed as soon as I got my phone out, the second a Smooth, with the breeding ridge all down its back. Do you think so?

"How lovely icyalittle! Lucky you" same from me.
We have a pond, and there's not much there at the moment, except for some dragon flies.
And last night there was a huge toad in our kitchen. It looks like the same one who used to come in in the evenings last year. Like this ( i love the name bufo bufo.)
www.wildaboutgardens.org.uk/wildlife/amphibians/toad-common.aspx

How lovely icyalittle! Lucky you

The charity Froglife deals with conservation & education matters for amphibians & reptiles in the UK (I live near the national HQ). They have a good site with identification tools & lots of useful information.

Your local Wildlife Trust?

We have some newts in our little pond, just the common sort. They came out of nowhere. We had a good newt year last year, but quite a few got eaten by blackbirds so not so many this year.