A des res for newts?

[animartco]

Originally Posted by Deb London

Today's project was a newt refuge, something that I think is needed in our garden.

How I built it:

Good soil was saved for the veg patch.




Broken roofing tiles were half buried in an oval shape.




Hardcore was added, smashing large bits with a club hammer.




Soil from an old rubble heap was used to fill in the gaps.




The gravelly soil was added in a dome shape.




One of many 'newty entrances'.




Sods were added - quite roughly, creating 'newty gaps'.




The turf was watered. The shape is almost round from some angles.




The position is close to ponds, near a hedge and a log pile, on ground that is partially shaded and never waterlogged.




Thank you to the kind WAB member who passed on a 'newt refuge' design to me. The original plan was for a much larger structure - I had to scale it down considerably to fit in with the garden.

The trouble is DEb, that it is absolutely the WRONG time of year to be building a newt refuge. You will be chopping up hibernating newts as you dig! They can hibernate in any flower bed or fairly soft soil in the garden. This is why it is always a good idea to put a rockery around a pond. It gives them a bit of protection against stamping feet and too much digging. What you have put in is good, but it is a small area and only a minute percentage of your newts will be hibernating in it next year.

[counterlady]

Fantastic work I love it - great instructions too - I'll consider doing one of these in my garden not seen newts for a long time.
Cheers

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by animartco

What you have put in is good, but it is a small area and only a minute percentage of your newts will be hibernating in it next year.

The size is fine, its unlikely that 1000's of newts will be found in a garden pond, a structure this big is more than capable of supporting over 100 newts. Its unlikely that there will be this amount.

Regarding newts in soil, you can see from these images its highly compacted so unless newts can dig through hard ground its unlikely to be an issue. Smooth newts usually hibernate under logs, rocks, dense leaf litter, in unused mammal burrows etc.

I think its unfair to criticize this members efforts which in time will benifit amphibians. If the OP was lifting up logs and clearing brash etc over a large area I could understand it, but in 3 ft of compacted garden soil, over critical.

[Farplace]

The size of the structure is fine. Deb has done well here, and should be congratulated, not critisized. Lots of things, not just newts, will appreciate this shelter. Thank you Deb.

[Deb London]

I've just been building another much larger structure today, at a conservation area where I work on a Sunday. Similar in design, with 5 volunteers doing some grand work to make something that we are all very proud of.

At neither site did we chop up anything. The ground was compacted at both sites. And believe me, one of us would have noticed the blood and guts and death throws of a dying newt (so please don't worry yourself about this, animartco).

And yes, my newt refuge is small. I did what I could with my time and materials. As I do every week of my life. In fact what I'd really like to do is encourage people to get out there off their backsides and do something of this sort in their gardens. It doesn't have to be obtrusive, and one refuge, even a small one in a city garden, has to be better than none.

I've asked the group leader to send the pictures of the larger structure. If he can send them, I'll post them here as inspiration to others.

And if anyone has other structures that they have pictures of, please use this thread to encourage others to do the same. It really is a lot of fun, and we can compare ideas.

[Kayleigh]

Well said Deb and Dogghound..
Look forward to the pics Deb my newts live under my pond liner as its supported on bricks with turf then there is the log pile in the borders and compost bins I have 4 around the garden and they are undisturbed as access is unassembled..
So pics of mine is a bit hard..
You really would have seen any newts if you had dug any up like I did with the Toad..he was OK too I didn't stab or chop him up..
I put him in the toad house I made for him from slabs and bricks..

[Deb London]

Thanks for the information, E. I like to know where other people find theirs in their gardens. I've never found out where 'my' newts go when they are not out and about feeding and mating (when they are really obvious). Apart from one that was inappropriately wedged in a doorway, the one that prompted the quest for the 'perfect des res', that is. They have never been found in my borders, under planters, under the stones I've placed for them, or anywhere that I've looked. I detected a sort of entrance in my log pile which they might have been using, but I'm not going to disturb them if they are there.

In fact I wouldn't do anything to disturb them intentionally. In this case I saw that there might be a need to act quite quickly, and did what I could. If we continue to find them in 'silly' places, I'll continue to try new ideas to make different parts of my garden more attractive. I've never built something like this, and didn't even know about hibernacula and refugia until a few months ago. I'd love to know what makes a successful one.

[Kayleigh]

I dont have a specially made des res like you but do find the ivy useful they use it to climb up and hide in.
There are enough hideyhoes in my garden and I dont have the room for anything as posh as yours..
But I did put an old baking tray down and got a newt and frogs under it in summer and there was evidence of mice under there with a stash of bird seed...
so build and they will come..

[Deb London]

Ha, ha, could have save myself the back ache. All that from and old tray.

[animartco]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

The size is fine, its unlikely that 1000's of newts will be found in a garden pond, a structure this big is more than capable of supporting over 100 newts. Its unlikely that there will be this amount.

Regarding newts in soil, you can see from these images its highly compacted so unless newts can dig through hard ground its unlikely to be an issue. Smooth newts usually hibernate under logs, rocks, dense leaf litter, in unused mammal burrows etc.

I think its unfair to criticize this members efforts which in time will benifit amphibians. If the OP was lifting up logs and clearing brash etc over a large area I could understand it, but in 3 ft of compacted garden soil, over critical.

Dogghound, if you look you will see that the soil in the pictures has been thoroughly dug all around the little shrubs. Newts frogs and slowworms will be hibernating in ALL this soil, and very few will bother with the refuge. Unfortunately they haven't the intelligence to say "OOH look our person has made us a refuge. lets use it!"
A word here about spade versus fork. If you are so obsessional that you MUST dig up all your soil then at least do it with a fork not a spade. A fork will only kill a very small percentage of hibernating animals because, especially with newts and slowworms, the tines coming down will tend to push the bodies out of the way rather than go through them. With a apade of course you chop a high percentage of hibernating animals in half. However ANY disturbance in winter KILLS and it is best to do what tidying you must, especially near a pond, BEFORE the first frosts. In the interests of the nations wildlife I can't state this too strongly and I am sorry if it offends any well meaning people who have disturbed their pond areas in the winter, but gardens are the last refuge of these creatures and we HAVE to educate people in the PROPER care of wildlife gardens.