Species Profile: Great Crested Newt (Triturus cristatus)
As we speed towards spring, it is essential to understand the protected species you may encounter while out and about within your local green spaces. So, this week’s focus is the Great Crested Newt.
Great Crested Newt (GCN) are a Eurasian species of Amphibian, meaning that their life cycle involves time in water and on land. Here in the United Kingdom, we have three species of newt: Palmate, Smooth and Great Crested, with GCN being the largest of these.
With its prominent wavy crest, bright orange belly and white strip across its tail, the GCN is easy to recognise alongside other UK species of newt. Males display the crest during the breeding season as part of their courtship display.
Females display the same features; although their crest is not as prominent, it is much smaller and can sometimes look more like a hump. During the breeding season, females may appear to have a swollen abdomen due to the eggs they may be carrying. Both males and females can grow up to 17cm long and have dark, warty skin with black spots.
During March-June, GCN can be found in ponds or other non-polluted water bodies to breed. The males perform a courtship ritual for the females, which looks like a wiggle to humans. After mating, the females can lay up to 200 eggs, all individually laid onto separate leaves; she will then fold over the top of the leaf to protect the egg.
From October to February, GCNs head back to woodland, shrub, or grassland areas, where they will hibernate until spring. These hibernation areas can be up to 500m from their breeding pond! GCN may choose to hibernate in log piles, compost heaps, around tree roots or in other similar habitats. In some cases, GCN will even decide to hibernate in the sediment at the bottom of the pond or whichever waterbody they have been using.
Over the last century, the UK’s widespread GCN population has declined dramatically due to habitat destruction, fragmentation, and pollution. Some local populations are also at risk due to increased predation from reintroduced fish stocks. The GCN population is estimated to have decreased by 50%, and 80% of UK ponds are in poor condition.
As the population of GCN has declined so much, the UK Law protects them. It is criminal to intentionally harm, capture or disturb GCNs or their breeding/ resting place. Deliberately obstructing GCN from accessing a breeding/ resting area is also an offence. Taking GCN eggs, possessing, selling, controlling, and transporting live or dead newts (or parts of them) is also a criminal offence. To carry out any of the above practices, an approved company must first obtain a license from Natural England.
Breaking these laws or using any equipment to carry out the offence can result in fines of up to £5,000 per offence and prison sentences of up to six months.
GCNs are a species of principal importance (SPI) in England. They are also listed as ‘rare and most threatened species” under section 41 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act (2006). This legal protection ensures that vital habitat is protected, and potential developments or projects must consider the GCN before carrying out their planned work.
The hope of this protection and the efforts put in by those in the green sector is that GCN populations will increase steadily and healthily, and we will establish secure populations for the future.
If you enjoyed this blog, then you might like to attend our Ecology course at our Green Skills Academy, where you can learn more about protected species: Click here- https://www.greenskillstraining.co.uk/content-details/25/ecology-awareness.htm
Author: Ellie Weir