ID ON MY FIRST NEWT SIGHTING-OH & HELLO TO ALL AS i AM A NEWBIE

Delilah Powers · #1 (**permalink**) 10-04-2009, 10:03 PM

Hi

Firstly I am a newbie so hello to everyone....

This is my first sighting of a newt around my pond (pond is around two years old) and with only usually seeing frogs an toads I have no knowledge of newts so a id and any general info about them would be great...

Also My frog spawn seems to have...disappeared

(I love frogs) there are very few tads and empty sacks/eggs however, last year an abundance of healthy tads!....another sign of newts?

GuyF · #2 (**permalink**) 10-04-2009, 10:20 PM

Hi and welcome to the site,
I think your Newt is a Smooth Newt, possibly a male although it doesn't look like it has it's breeding crest.
Guy

Words · #3 (**permalink**) 10-04-2009, 11:07 PM

I agree... smooth newt. Not sure about the spawn but it should all have hatched by now (ours takes about two weeks). It might have sunk. The newts will predate the spawn and tadpoles, but it's unlikely they'd wipe out the population. Both do extrmely well in our small garden pond. The only loss of spawn we've had was last year when a gull scooped up the lot!

welsh.lensman · #4 (**permalink**) 11-04-2009, 07:27 AM

Hi Delilah and welcome to WAB, I hope you enjoy the site.

treecreeper · #5 (**permalink**) 13-04-2009, 09:21 AM

Welcome to the site Delilah. Next time you see the newt look at the end of its tail. If you see a black filament (I don't think you will) you have a male palmate newt. Then catch it, turn it upside down and look at its throat. A smooth newt has a white throat with darkish spots and speckles. A palmate's throat is unmarked and often has a pink tinge.

Steve Buckley · #6 (**permalink**) 15-04-2009, 02:27 PM

I think that you may have a Female Palmate Newt, As it looks quite different to the Female Smooth Newt i photographed in a small ornimental pond in a little park inFolkestone on Sunday

However i did find that the markings on the Newts in there to be very different to each other, some appearing to be almost white,

The pond seemed to be over flowing with them, with over 100 counted, including some Youngsters

treecreeper · #7 (**permalink**) 15-04-2009, 02:54 PM

I still think Delilah's newt is a smooth. One of the distinguishing features of the palmate is the shortish tail, usually less than half the total length (i.e. length of head plus tail). The smooth newt has tail length about equal to half total length. Not all the tail shows in the photo but it looks a bit long for a palmate.