The Great Crested Newt
The Great Crested Newt
Triturus cristatus
Walking locally this month I came across this Newt, I wanted to be sure that is was a Great Crested Newt so I took a photograph and sent it off to Amphibian and Reptile Conservation
They replied and confirmed that what I had found was a Great Crested Newt. They are our rarest Newt species and protected by British and European law
The easiest way to make a positive identification is by the wartiness of the skin and by looking at the toes, a Great Crested Newt has orange stripey toes (no other native Newts have this)
The ARC asked me to log my sighting at the website Record Pool, a specialist database for reptiles and amphibians. The collated data is used to help with conservation work, inform habitat management and help with legislation and policy advocacy as well as ecological research
Candida Hopkinson