newts and frogs

[Edd]

Hi does anyone know how i can attract newts and frogs to my 4 by 5 feet pond i had a palamate newt last year but it left in the winter, can anyone help!?!?!?!?!?!?!

[healfdan]

A lot depends om where you are located. If you live in a built up area where few people have gardens of any size, fewer still have garden ponds and there are no parks or open spaces, this reduces the chance of these creatures using your site. On the other hand if this doesn't apply and there is a corridor for these creatures to move along, then make your site attractive to them. Plenty of old logs close to the pond, even old carpet will do and plenty of damp cover. Make sure your pond has some submerged aquatics and plenty of marginal plants. Don't expect miracles this year but at least you are laying the foundations for the sort of habitat that will attract them in the future. If you have fish in your pond decide if you want to keep fish or attract amphibians, because some fish will eat tadpoles and very small newts.
Having a Palmate newt in the past shows there is a chance you will be successful. I am sure you will have more suggestions from other members, so good luck.
Healfdan

[motnworb]

As said above, unfortunately its tricky as it does depend on what habitats are around your whole area. Newts, toads and even frogs only spend a short amount of time a year actually in the water of ponds, so they also require suitable land habitats to stay and thrive in an area.

For example newts, like your palmate visitor, actually only spend about 3 months of the year in a pond, just to breed. Then they move off, up to several kilometers, into undergrowth around where they breed to spend the rest of the year foraging. This is also why if there is a large population of roaming cats newt populations will struggle (slow easy prey not near water).

So providing a good pond habitat may mean you get visitors, but not keep them all year round. Having said that frogs are certainly less fussy and will lay their spawn in surprising places.

The best additional thing you could do would be provide foraging areas for them in your garden and see if that encourages them to start breeding in your pond or just hanging around longer. Log piles, rough areas of grass, an area of dead leaves and plenty of places to hide away and stay moist.

Having said all that, even in a perfect wildlife area you won't find newts in your pond all year.