Smooth Newts returning

[King Edward]

Big increase in the number of Smooth Newts this evening - counted 14 males & 4 females in one of the ponds today. This is the pond back in October:

I've seen the odd newt or two through the winter, but I think these are mostly new arrivals. They're quite active too, mostly up in the shallow water round the edge (although it's tricky to see what's going on down into the central deeper section). There isn't much plant life in this pond yet, due to it being new - it's mostly fallen leaves plus sunken mats of duckweed + blanketweed.

Interestingly, I didn't see any newts in the goldfish pond right beside it:

I'm not sure if this is due to the newts actively avoiding the fish, or just that they're harder to spot amongst the dense plants & pond baskets in the shallower areas (certainly there aren't many in the open water, which is pretty devoid of interesting life due to the fish).

[Dogghound]

Newts avoid ponds with fish in, if they can, although smooth newt larvae tend to be benthic so they are not as prone to fish predation as some of the other amphibian species. Fish give off a pheromone which amphibians can smell (as they smell for pond water), some species avoid it some species are drawn to it. Despite the limited number of plants they will still use things like dead leaves for egg laying. Im sure the mild winter may result in a early breeding season, newts are much less prone to the sudden drops in temperature which cause early breeding frogs problems.

[Billabong Karen]

I havent seen a single newt yet, and now the weather is due to get colder I'm not really expecting them for a while yet... Of course it is dark mornings and evenings, so I dont get much of a chance to look for them during the week. But at the weekends I am down at the ponds every chance I get.

KE, that's part of the advantage to having the shallow sandy section I guess. The water is probably warmer, and you can see the wildlife much better.

[King Edward]

To give a bit more background on the newts/fish, there were both smooth and great crested newts breeding in the fish pond last summer, and also toads. I don't think either newt species had much success due to the fish - I saw about 6 crested newt metamorphs on the lawn near the pond last summer, no smooth newt metamorphs as far as I remember, and no toadlets - I think the newts ate all the toadspawn/tadpoles at quite an early stage.

This year, I'm hoping that both newt species will breed in the new pond, leaving the fish pond for the toads, although in practice obviously it might not work out quite so neatly. There's also a lot more food for newts/larvae in the non-fish pond - loads of Daphnia, Mayfly nymphs and Damselfly nymphs, plus a lot more corixids and backswimmers.

I might also try and 'rescue' some of the toadspawn, to rear the tadpoles separately at least to a stage where they might survive better back in the pond - there are quite a lot of adult toads around the garden, but I never see any juveniles.

[Billabong Karen]

How big are your fish? I dont have any, but my parents have three connecting ponds, the top two are fish free (and usually full of frog spawn and tadpoles), and the bottom pond has large fish in it. Any tadpoles that gets swooshed down get eaten pronto.

My point is I think your idea of rescuing toad spawn from the fish pond is a good one; unless you have a lot of cover in there where toadlets could hide I cannot imagine they are going to be able to survive.

[Billabong Karen]

I'm trying to think back to your earlier posts about your ponds KE - havent you also got another smaller pond? Could you use that as a toad-raising venue?

[King Edward]

There are about 10 adult goldfish, one golden orfe and one shubunkin, plus some smaller goldfish bred last year. There were more, but a heron got half of them last year (hence the increased amount of nylon line, visible in the photo). I wouldn't have any fish personally, but it's my grandfather's pond and he's keen on them.

No fish at least in these ponds in our garden (about 60 m away):

There are still overwintering Smooth Newt larvae in the deep concrete pond in the foreground - I did put some toadspawn in last year, but I don't know if any of the tadpoles metamorphosed successfully. The large new pond is, unfortunately, visited by voracious Mallards during the spring/summer, although perhaps now there's more cover from fallen leaves that will provide some protection for the tadpoles - they were very vulnerable on the bare sand last year.

[King Edward]

Three frogs in the fish pond tonight - 2 male, 1 female, plus 1 smooth newt. Also a mating pair of Great Diving Beetles in the other pond.

[Ukwildlifeo]

In case your frogs get broody in the night I'll post this now

Pond Conservation | Big Pond Dip | Big Spawn Count

[GCN lova]

Your ponds look very inviting to amphibians! I haven't seen my frog in there but im surprised as the weather is mild here. It's interesting to note how GCNs haven't appeared in your pond yet.

GCN lova

PS: good luck with your ponds!