Newts

[Billabong Karen]

I did see quite a lot of the tail wiggling and gentle shoving going on last May/June. Didnt know the areas the males are in were called leks though... You learn something every day on this forum, thanks!

Cant wait for the warmer weather to wake the newts up again. Just shows you though, they are cleverer than us. I wanted them weeks ago, but they didnt believe in the warm weather and hung on until after the cold spell...

[Billabong Karen]

OK, so I am a bit of a nerd when it comes to etymology, and wondered where the word 'lek' comes from. I know 'ein Leck' in German is a leak, but didnt think it could come from that... So a quick check in the old etymological (online) dictionary showed that it comes from the old Swedish word for a mating ground, mating, game, play; and from the Old Norse leikr, to play.

Ha!

[scouse62]

so glad i joined this web site i have learned so much from you all a big thank you rob

[Red Robin]

Late February 2012 in coastal West Dorset and my introduction of a couple of clumps of frogspawn has brought the Palmate Newts out of hiding to gorge themselves on it. The larger pond snails are having a go too, though I can't tell if they are devouring or just grazing the surface.

Barely a handful of tadpoles survived last year and I only spotted one froglet (sat classically on a lily leaf):



The newts are feasting both day and night and I noticed a male already with distinctive spotted colouring and spiked tail end.

I guess that the Palmates born in my small wildlife pond last year will have remained there through the winter? How much will they have grown though? To full size?

[Dogghound]

Unfortunately when you keep moving spawn around you often find very few larvae survive to emerge.

Palmate newt larvae will only overwinter if they are not fully developed. Newts tend to emerge in late summer/autumn, the juvenile or eft will then spend around two years on land where it will grow and return to the pond around its 3rd spring when it will be sexually active. Last years juveniles will still be small and distinctively smaller than adults. They are very terrestrial at this age so shouldnt go to the pond.

[Red Robin]

A lot of the spawn I introduced last year (from the same nearby source) survived to tadpoles but not beyond.



^ Photographed mid-August 2011 (captured for photography only from my pond). Approx an inch long.

So this little chap/chapesse ventured onto land and the big bad world, eh? So they only go to water for breeding?

[Dogghound]

The problem is frogs are quite selective and if they don't breed in a pond it's usually due to a reason, such as predators, a lack of food (algae), pond age, shade, depth, or the temperature. All these can lead to a mortality and slow development increasing the risk of predation and winter mortality.

Initially palmate newts are terrestrial, they then breed each year after they return. They occassionally forage in ponds later in the year. Newts have a prolonged ovipositing season so females in particular may stay in the pond for several months. It varies between ponds, populations and individuals. Palmate and smooth tend to be less aquatic in comparison to crested. So they spend the winter and most of the summer/autumn on the land.

[Red Robin]

2012 will only be my pond's third year but Palmate Newts inhabited it from February through to September last year (the first year I saw them).

There's already more young Water Forget-me-nots showing this year and that was a favoured egg wrap:

[Red Robin]

As it's the start of the newts season in my pond, and I have a new torch with variable beam and focus, I went out to the pond last night to see how they were doing with their frogspawn feast. On the way back I very nearly stepped on this lovely female:



She was headed towards my pond so I gave her a helping hand and took the opportunity to look at her more closely. I couldn't easily take photos, hold a torch and hold her all at the same time and I didn't want to hold her for long. She felt like warm dry rubber!

[Dogghound]

You can see the tubercles on its hind left foot, this is a good way of separating female smooth and palmate newts. Especially later on in the year as they become more terrestrial.