If you have a garden pond it is likely that you are also the caretaker of a few smooth newts, even though you may not know it. If you have tadpoles in your pond, they may well be newts, rather than frogs or toads.  You can easily tell the difference if you peer closely;  newts produce their front legs first and they grow large feathery gills that are very visible. Frogs and toads on the other hand develop their back legs first and have no visible gills.

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Newts are charming amphibians that belong to the salamander family, the largest of which  is the meter long Japanese Giant salamander which  lives all its life in running water and the smallest is Thorius arborius which, true to its name, lives all its life in rainforest trees!  Salamanders can be completely aquatic or completely terrestrial or somewhere in between and they are found all around the world except in Australia and at the Poles. 

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We have three native species of newts in Great Britain; the smooth newt, which is the most common, the palmate newt, which is the smallest, and the largest species, the rare Great Crested newt, which is a registered endangered species.  All of our newts are semi-aquatic, spending part of their lives in the water and part on land.

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The smooth newt grows up to 10 cm long and is generally brown to olive green, often with slight black spots on its back and with a bright yellow-orange belly that sports small black spots. In the spring males can be distinguished by a wavy crest that runs down the length of their backs.   As with all amphibians, it isn’t unusual for colouring to vary a bit,  with some specimens being much paler or darker than usual.

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Smooth newts are nocturnal animals that live part of their life in ponds and still water, and part of their lives on land. After picking up a sperm sack (a spermatophore) that has been dropped by the male newt, a smooth newt female will lay  each of her 300 or so eggs on leaves in still water (rather than the running water of a stream or river).  After laying each egg, she carefully folds and glues the leaf edges together to protect it.  Despite this careful mothering, it is estimated that less than one percent of her babies will make it to adulthood.  After about a week the eggs hatch, tadpoles emerge and, over the next 10 weeks, the tadpoles metamorphose into juvenile newts.

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Newts feed on invertebrates both while they are in the water and when they emerge to live on the land. In late summer, as they mature and lose their gills, smooth newts leave their watery nursery to explore the surrounding areas. Adult newts cannot breathe underwater and will die if they are unable to reach fresh air. They will live most of the rest of their lives in the undergrowth, often being found under stones, rotting logs and piles of leaves, but each year during the breeding season between February and July, they will return to the water to mate and lay eggs. Adults hibernate through the winter, finding shelter in compost heaps, under stones and logs and in piles of leaves, emerging in early spring in time to breed. Smooth newts can live for up to 15 years!

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Just like the tadpoles of frogs and toads, the prevailing conditions in the pond – temperature, available diet or overcrowding - occasionally means that some newts may not develop into adulthood in one season, so you may  find newt tadpoles still in your pond in the autumn.  Rarely the young grow to adult size but never lose their gills. This state, called  neoteny, means that that particular specimen will probably never leave the water and will not breed. This is a state that isn’t uncommon among other amphibians.

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• Many creatures feed on the tadpoles and young of newts, frogs and toads…including adult newts, frogs and toads! 

• A smooth newt may shed its skin as often as once a week.         

• It is illegal to kill, trade or sell smooth newts throughout the UK as they have protected status.

 

Other species of British newts

• The palmate newt is a very similar species to the smooth newt for most of the year, though  it is slightly smaller at about 8 cm long, and its throat is pink with no spots.  When in full breeding finery in the spring, males develop webbed feet and a ridge running down their backs.  The palmate newt isn’t as common as the smooth newt.

• Great crested newts are the rarest species of the three British newts, though they can be common in those areas they do inhabit. They are larger than both palmate and smooth newts, at about 16 cm long, and they have black backs, often with little white bumps. Their bellies are orange with black spots.  In spring males sport a jagged crest from head to tail together with a white flash on the tail. If you find a great crested newt in your pond, or indeed in any pond you come across, you should report it to Natural England, Countryside Council for Wales or Scottish Natural Heritage.