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Post by rowanberry on Jul 11, 2015 16:26:18 GMT
Was really pleased today to get photos of not one, but two of the elusive newts in the pond. They are so difficult to photograph, I was happy to get these rather out-of-focus images. Definitely two different ones- they were on opposite sides of the pond. I am presuming they are Smooth Palmate Newts? A crest is just visible on one of them.  |
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Post by dogghound on Jul 13, 2015 11:45:34 GMT
Do you have a larger photo of the top left one? I cant access your Flickr page to see it closer. The other two are Male Smooth Newts.
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Post by rowanberry on Jul 14, 2015 8:06:19 GMT
Sorry, Dogghound- I thought I'd set them all to public... I've changed it now, so you can have a better look, (it enlarges quite a bit.)
Do you think it might be something other than a Smooth Newt?
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Post by dogghound on Jul 15, 2015 12:13:52 GMT
Its an egg wrapping female. I cant see the details that are needed to make a 100% accurate ID. However judging by its overall colouration on its belly (the bit facing upwards in the photo) then its most likely smooth :-)
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Post by rowanberry on Jul 22, 2015 8:49:50 GMT
Thanks for that info, Dogghound.
One thing that does concern me...if she is laying and wrapping her eggs that close to the surface, is there any danger that I might be disturbing them when I try to clean out the duckweek? I use an old sieve attached to the end of a bamboo cane, and it has to be done every day or so, else the pond gets completely choked by it. I try and be gentle, (keeping in mind the dragonfly nymphs and tadpoles) but I didn't think about newt eggs, since we've not really had them before.
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Post by dogghound on Jul 22, 2015 17:57:55 GMT
As long as you don't physically break off the leaves of the plants or damage the egg with them they will be fine. They are fairly robust. They tend to lay most of them near the surface or margins as it's the warmest part of the pond.
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