Great Crested Newt

Growing up to 15cm in length, Great Crested Newts are the heavy weights of the UK's three native newt species. They appear dark brown or black in colour with a distinct ‘warty’ skin, however their underside is bright orange with sharply contrasting black blotches, each pattern distinctive to that individual. In the spring, males develop an impressive jagged crest along their back, and a flashy white stripe along the tail.

Peacocks of the pond, during April and May the males undertake an elaborate courtship display to try and impress their ladies, with lots of extravagant tail waving. Good open water display sites are hotly contested – one sneaky strategy is for male newts sometimes to mimic females to lure other confused males away from favoured display areas so that they can move in themselves. After mating, the females lay hundreds of eggs amongst the leaves of pond plants, each egg in an individually folded and wrapped leaf for protection.

As with other newt species, Great Crested Newts come and go from ponds. The adult males arrive at their breeding ponds in the spring, and then start to leave from May onwards - though some may stay until as late as October, and even overwinter in the pond.

Over the last 100 years Great Crested Newts have disappeared from many sites right across Europe, mainly as a result of pond loss and intensive agriculture. In this sense, this iconic species sums up everything that has gone wrong for freshwater wildlife in Britain.

Your £15.00 will go into the Million Ponds Project pond digging fund to help us to work with our colleagues at Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, to create new ponds suitable for Great Crested Newts.These have to be fish free, and have lots of aquatic plants for egg laying.