My friends claims to have seen the first newt of the year yesterday! I am going round their house today to see if I can catch a glimpse of it. They said they only saw it swim away briefly, so they could of been mistaken, but this is about the right time of year isn't it?

Has anyone else seen a newt yet?

Hi Riana

Yes it is the right time of year (see my blog for more details).

Best wishes
SCR

This is the right time of year to start seeing them, you still have to be fairly lucky though as they are very quick and don't often stick around long! At least from my experience.

I think it must be the mild winter, but we had newts visible in our pond for virtually the whole year. This one was photographed on New Year's Day

This post was last modified: 30-03-2008 12:22 AM by Words.

This may seem starnge, but I saw one about 2 months ago! My dad was in the garden, and he brought it in to show everyone.

It has been a very mild year, and winter. Over the christmas period there was pretty much no freezing weather at all that I can remember, so its definitely possible.

was the newt in the water?

No, it was found in our garage!

Thought as much. Although "Words" saw them in the pond on New Year's Day, generally they don't spend that much time in water (although I think gc newts are more aquatic). Out of water they can be found all year round.

Although it has been relatively mild I don't think it felt quite as mild as winter 05/6 and 06/07 and it did kill off the duckweed on one of our work ponds where it has been a menace for a few years.

Yes I counted a dozen newts in my pond around 3 weeks ago in Devon - we had the lights on at night & they were busy busy busy chasing eachother!!!!

Not sure how this has happened, we have had a pond for about 4-5 years now, we had frogs in the garden already so it seemed the nicest thing to do. We have had varying success with frogs and now for the second year we have had common newts breeding, only one male and 2 females mind. Anyway i looked a short while ago and saw a baby newt, how on earth could this be possible. Also for the second year we have a great crested female but no male, damn shame, dont suppose there is a dating service for these newts?

This post was last modified: 06-04-2008 05:54 PM by ripper.

Hi Ripper

It depends how small the baby newt is. I think sometimes if eggs are laid late or if we have a cold wet summer like last year the animals don't fully develop in time and so overwinter without reaching maturity.

If the gc female has found your pond then hopefully it will be only a matter of time before the male does. It depends on where the nearest colony is as the adults have a limited range. If you haven't already you could report the sighting to your local amphib and reptile group and they should be able to tell you about other ponds locally.


Best wishes
SCR

Cheers for your response.