Facts about UK Newts and their life cycle:
- There are 3 varieties of newts Native to UK - Smooth Newt, Great Crested Newt and Palmate Newt. see images to know what they look like.
1. Smooth Newts:
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- Newts – both Male and Female return to the pond to mate
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- Male smooth newt with orange underbelly
- Smooth Newts (or Common Newt) are brown & about 9cm/3" long.
- They live most of their lives on land hiding under sheds or in log piles.
- They return to your pond as mating adults when 3 years old
- Smooth Newts prefer neutral to slightly alkaline water.
Males:
- Are distinguished by bright orange markings on both tail and underbelly when they are ready for mating.
- Also prominent black spots on his belly and back.
Females:
- Look duller & paler brown in colour with a spotted throat
- They are also about 7-9cm/3" long.
2. Great Crested Newts:
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- Great Crested male newt showing off his orange belly
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- Great Crested male newt showing crest
- A Great crested newt is black in colour and larger than Smooth or Palmate newts - about 13-15cm/5-6" long. (Image showing crest - Courtesy of Jim Grundy)
- The male has a silver stripe the length of his tail when he is of mating age and a very pronounced wavy crest when swimming in the water.
- It is against the law to handle, disturb or disrupt the pond or habitat area associated with Great Crested Newts.
- These newts are under threat.
- Great Crested Newts are Fully Protected in law under The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 (Regs) & Countryside Rights of Way Act 2000.
- Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and/or Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) can be created for protection where Great Crested Newts are found.
- This means legal restrictions on managing a pond and its plants and the land around these pond sites.
- The laws are intended to save the specific habitat these newts require.
3. Palmate Newt
- Palmate Newts like shallow ponds in acid soil areas like peat bogs or moorlands.
- They are small in size and very like Smooth Newts in size and colour.
- In breeding season male Palmate Newts have webbed back feet and a thin extension to the tail.
- The female has a plain (not spotted) throat.
What do Newts do in Spring?
- Newts become active in Spring when the night temperatures rise.
- All species then start to return from land to water for a breeding season in a pond.
- Newts breed later than frogs and toads.
- Newts look for still water for mating
- Ideally a pond without fish.
- Open water space to perform their mating routine which generally occurs at dawn or dusk.
Mating Newts in your pond:
- Males try to attract a female with a bright tummy and by waving his brightly edged tail.
- She should swim after him.
- He waves his tail more to waft his glandular secretions (pheromones) towards her to encourage her to get closer.
- When she touches his tail with her nose he releases his spermatophore.
- She will swim over this and it will stick to her underbelly.
- A female is plump on the hips in Spring as she has a bellyful of eggs waiting to be fertilized.
- She can store the sperm of more than one male in her body for a few days.
- Then she fertilizes her eggs just before laying.
- Any species of female newt will lay her eggs between March and June (approx)
The video below is 4:35 minutes long but was edited down from an 8-minute video taken in real-time.
Where do newts lay their eggs?
- Female newts lay eggs in water using pond plants as protection.
- Any species of female newt will lay her eggs between March and June (approx)
- She will lay in the leaves of horizontal growing, rafting plants on the shallow shelf ( ).
- The female newt finds a suitable leaf and lays an egg.
- She folds the leaf over each egg with her back feet.
- She lays & wraps each egg individually in a folded leaf and secures it by sealing the fold with a secretion for safety from predators.
- A newt egg is small, white and round with a clear jelly-like secretion around it.
).What are the best plants to help Newts in your pond lay eggs:
These are the best pond plants to encourage any female newts to lay her eggs:
- Mentha aquatica
- Myosotis scorpioides & Myosotis scorpioides alba
- Myriophyllum Red Stem
- Oenanthe javanica Flamingo
- Water Cress (Rorippa nasturtium aquaticum)
- Veronica beccabunga
- Pond planting collection for Newts - A selection of 3 rafting plants all potted in 9cm baskets of aquatic soil
Photos below show a female newt laying eggs & folding them in a leaf for safety.
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- Female newts choose the leaf they want to lay their eggs on
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- Female Smooth newt laying eggs on a Myosotis scorpioides leaf
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- Female newt folding the Myosotis scorpioides leaf over her egg with her hind legs
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- Female Newt leaves her egg & the folded leaf and swims away before returning to lay another egg in the plant
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- Newt eggs are wrapped in the leaf of Myosotis scorpioides plant
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- Showing Newt egg wrapped in Myosotis scorpioides leaf
- Photos show an area of folded leaves of Myosotis scorpioides (Myosotis palustris) used by a female newt and a closeup of the egg inside the folded leaf.
- One female will lay several eggs a day over many weeks and can lay between 150 - 300 eggs in a breeding season.
- Eggs will take between 10-20 days to hatch dependent on temperature.
- Only 1% of eggs laid will reach adulthood.
- They can be eaten by other amphibians - frogs or toads or by dragonfly larvae.
Watch our video and learn how to plant your pond to encourage newts to visit you.
What do Newts do in Summer?
- Adult newts leave the pond after mating and hide under nearby plants or under rocks or log piles feeding on insects.
- Newt tadpoles or larvae develop from the eggs and swim in the pond.
- Tadpoles hide in the oxygenating weed using their gills to breathe underwater and feed on aquatic insects.
- They have no legs at this stage and as each batch of eggs develops you can see a range of sizes of newt larvae within one pond. Image below shows they range from 1cm to 3cm.
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- Variety of sizes of young newts in your pond as they develop through Summer
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- Young newt on land in Autumn
- From June onwards when they have developed legs and begin to leave the water as efts.
- They hide and look for food in the surrounding undergrowth.
- You should provide an area of plants next to the pond for this foraging and for their protection from predators.
- Blackbirds are quick to pick on the young newts as they emerge from the water if they have nowhere to hide.
What do Newts do in Autumn & Winter?
- Smooth Newts have dull brown skin as camouflage to overwinter in log piles, compost heaps or under sheds.
- Newts find frost free and safe places from predators like cats or birds.
- Make sure you make plenty of safe areas of Winter protection for them near your pond.
- Build a Hibernaculum or Bug House for any amphibians to overwinter in.
- They do not hibernate but stay dormant.
- In a spell of warmer weather - above 5C at night they may emerge and look for food - earthworms, slugs or insects.
- Newts are nocturnal and will begin to travel back to their ponds for breeding as it warms at night but find shelter again if it turns cold.
See below - best pond plants for the newts in your pond to lay eggs on:
