Great Crested Newt Triurus cristatus
This threatened creature has suffered a massive decline and is now legally protected. It can be easily identified as it is our largest newt and the males have vivid breeding colours. They are fond of Norfolk’s wetland habitats and can be found in central and south-east Norfolk. The courtship display is an extravagant affair; with the male standing up on his front legs with his back arched waving his tail.
Conservation status in Norfolk
Threatened. Because of the massive decline in their numbers the great crested newt is now legally protected and is a priority species under the UK’s biodiversity action plan. It is illegal to catch, possess or handle them without a licence or to cause them any harm or disturb their habitat in any way. A reduction in the water table, in-filling for development, neglect, and the stocking of ponds with fish, has caused a reduction in the number of ponds suitable for breeding.
How to help
Create a fish-free pond, the perfect newt pond will have gentle sloping sides to allow easy access, shallow pond margins which heat up quickly in the spring and deeper areas to prevent the pond from drying out or becoming totally frozen. Also near the pond create hibernation sites such as log piles.
Great Crested Newt, Karl Charters
Information on the Great Crested Newt
How to recognise
Our largest newt. When the males are in their breeding colours they have been described as miniature dragons. They have dark brown backs and sides and are covered with darker coloured spots. Fine white spots, the warts, are also present. These are on the side of the head and body and are more obvious in breeding males. Both sexes are orange or yellow underneath, with large black blotches and spots. These markings are unique in each individual. During the breeding season the males develop a jagged crest along their back and tail, with a slight gap where the tail meets the body. They also have a pale stripe along the side of the tail, usually white, silver or blue in colour. Females do not have a crest but they have a yellow-orange stripe along the lower edge of their tails.
Where to see
Norfolk is known for its rich wetland habitats but great crested newts appear to be absent from Broadland, being found mainly in central and south-east Norfolk. There are many populations in Breckland and a few records in the north and west of the county. They will live in a huge range of habitats from farmland to industrial sites.
When to see
Great crested newts emerge from hibernation in March andhead straight to breeding ponds. They will spend the day in the deep water feeding, moving into shallow water in the evening to breed. Between March and May the female lays several hundred eggs a day on submerged aquatic plants, each wrapped individually in a leaf. After 3 weeks the larvae hatch, with feathery gills, and begin to feed on other small water creatures. The newt larvae take 4 months to metamorphose into air-breathing juveniles. When they leave the water they will stay on land until they are sexually mature, at 2 or 3 years old. As the weather in October begins to get colder, newts look for suitable sites to hibernate such as under piles of leaves, among tree stumps or a hole in a wall
Did you know?
Newts can regenerate limbs and toes if they are damaged or lost.
“Eye of toad and toe of frog” – newts feature in many a witches’ brew including most famously in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
Related questions
If you translocate a newt to another pond will it go back to the ancestral pond?
If the newt is translocated in one year it will try to get back to its original pond the following year, although any young it has in the new location will stay at that location. However, it is not advised to move newts between ponds because of the potential spread of disease. Great crested newts are a protected species, and should not be moved without a licence.
What are the differences between newt species?
There are three newt species found in the UK – the great crested, the smooth or common newt and the palmate newt. Only the great crested and smooth newts are now widespread in Norfolk with the palmate newt being confined to a very small number of sites.
The
great crested newt is the largest species at about 15cm long. Their topside is very dark brown or black and the underside is orange or yellow with irregular black spots. The males have a distinctive and large serrated crest during the breeding season. Great-crested newts have full protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
The smooth or common newt is about 8-10cm long and has a pale grey-brown body with a bright yellow or orange underside with dark spots. A distinguishing feature is the presence of spots on the underside of their throat. During the breeding season males have a continuous wavy crest running along the back and also along the underside of the tail.
The palmate newt is very similar in size and colour to the smooth newt; however the males do not have a very pronounced crest and have webbed hind feet. Females are more difficult to differentiate but the best way is to look at the throat which in palmate is usually a pale/translucent pink colour without spots.
What do I do if I find a great crested newt in my pond?
Norfolk Wildlife Trust is developing a database of all the great crested newt sightings in Norfolk which will be sent to the Norfolk Biological Records Centre. If you find a great crested newt please
email us, giving the location you saw the newt (ideally a grid reference) and the date you found it.
Can amphibians and fish live together?
Sometimes. Amphibian eggs and tadpoles vary in their ability to cope with fish predation. At one extreme, toad eggs and tadpoles are distasteful to fish, so that toads can thrive in fish ponds. At the other end of the scale, great crested newt tadpoles are extremely prone to being eaten by fish. Common frogs and smooth newts can survive in fish ponds, especially if there is plenty of vegetation in which to hide from fish. However, fish will reduce the numbers of surviving tadpoles and the best wildlife ponds, ideally, do not contain any fish.
Getting started - Why bother keeping wildlife records?
There are so many reasons!
- Your records can help identify areas which are especially important for wildlife in your local area.
- They can provide up-to-date information on local wildlife and identify changes which may be linked to climate change, or factors such as local developments or new farming practices.
- They can help identify areas that local people feel should be protected.
- They can provide information which will help management and enhancement of local areas to benefit wildlife.
- You can create a baseline record which will enable future changes to be monitored.
- They can help identify species in decline or under threat.
- They can identify the sites of rare species and enable them to be protected – some species such as badgers, bats, water voles, great crested newts and rare nesting birds have existing legal protection, but if no one knows where they are then they can’t be protected.
- Wildlife records can be used to encourage local awareness, interest and pride in things that make your area special.
- They can help inform local conservation policies and may be relevant information if future developments are proposed or planning applications made.
- Surveys can be the starting point for future community conservation projects which will help celebrate and protect the wildlife and habitats you discover.
Recording is enjoyable and can be addictive! It is a way to further your enjoyment of wildlife in your local area and once you start recording you will almost certainly notice far more that you did before. It can also be a way of getting to know your local area better, meeting other people interested in wildlife and forming or joining a group to share and develop your identification skills and knowledge of wildlife.
getting started
Getting started - What should I do with my survey results?
1) Keep a copy of the results yourself – if you keep results on your laptop or computer it is sensible to keep a back-up on disc or another hard drive.
2) If you have been surveying on private land then make sure the landowner receives a copy of your survey results – many landowners, once they know about wildlife on their land, are keen to protect it.
3) Your local parish council may well be interested to hold a copy of the results, and this could be valuable to inform parish plans – some species such as bats, badgers, great crested newts and water voles have special legal protection and knowledge of where they are could help prevent damaging developments destroying their breeding sites.
4) Involve the whole community and celebrate your findings.
5) Send your survey findings to
Norfolk Biodiversity Information Service. They are able to transfer records from the survey forms we have provided onto the county-wide biological records system. This means that your local information will become part of the information used to identify which species are in need of conservation action and can help conservation groups target resources at the species most in need of protection. You can submit your records by post or by email.
Getting started