Lacklustre pond brought to life

[jetpenny]

My medium sized wildlife/informal pond is now six years old. For five years the microscopic life has been sparse, and many of the aquatic plants have struggled, until last year I built a decent sized waterfall and stream to feed into it. What an amazing difference! It is now teeming with microscopic life, the plants are thriving and I can't wait to see what develops next. I even got carried away and introduced a few swan mussels beneath the inlet, which have now wandered off & disappeared into the mud somewhere.I haven't yet spotted any newts. Any tips on what to look for apart from spawn or efts?

[dampflippers]

Do you have pond plants like waterforgetmenot with submerged leaves? If so it is fairly easy to spot folded leaves with eggs in.
In a few weeks time, get something like a deli tub (clean), and plung it in amongst the weeds. Then have a good look in for efts. At first the look like double eyelashes.
Go out at night with a torch and wait patiently.
If you have newts, they will lay durng night or day (especially if it is warm and sunny). You'll see them amongst the pond plants.
Good luck! Some people are adamant they don't have newts, then find them when they do some pond maintenace.

Make sure you have lots of submerged plants- oxygenators and marginals, easy access and rocks and or logs near the pond to hide under.

[jetpenny]

Thanks for the tips. I just introduced lots of wter forget-me-not last Autumn so it should be a bit more tempting for newts, as my previous underwater plants were predominantly of the feathery type. I'll also try the other ways of looking for them.
Thanks

[Tobyh]

Welcome to WAB.

Good for you! I love my pond (just 1 year old) and was lucky to have newts within 6 weeks of it being created.

My best tip for spotting newts - get a torch and go check at night. I rarely spot them during the day and I really look at my pond - occasionally catch one come up for air but thats it. At night they are right in the shallows and as long as you don't stamp up to the pond you can get to see them really close up.

Good luck!

TobyH

[Cowgirl]

Originally Posted by dampflippers

Then have a good look in for efts. At first the look like double eyelashes.

Wot the 'eck is an eft?

[Moonmoth]

Its a Newt you daft eft !

[Moonmoth]

Oh No ! Just for fun looked up EFT and it says its Emotional Freedom Techniques that equals Gobbledegook or Hocus pocus to the wise and money in the pockets of charlatans !

[Cowgirl]

Och I didnae know that!

Ommmmmm.....

That'll be £50 please