The Great Crested Newt Hunt

Great crested newts are fully protected under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 and until now the only individual ever found at the College was a lone stowaway found in the folds of some waders from a netting session at Foxholes Fisheries near Crick some years ago. These amphibians are highly elusive so a combination of cunning and somewhat bizarre survey methods need to be employed to find them.
 

Using a combination of manual netting, egg searching, live capture trapping (using homemade ‘bottle traps’ made from fizzy drinks bottles) and nocturnal torch surveying animal studies and countryside management staff have managed to find a small breeding population in a pond on the eastern margins of the estate. The site will now be re-fenced to protect from livestock and dead wood piles created to provide terrestrial refugia for the population.
 

 It should be noted that these animals are protected by law and handling or trapping them normally requires licensed permission from Natural England.
 

Picture shows newt egg laying evidence – great crested newt eggs are laid singly in the folded leaves of marginal vegetation and have a cream coloured embryo.