A Woodvale family were delighted to discover a Great Crested Newt (GCN) close to their Sandbrook Road garden pond yesterday.
The newt initially appeared to be injured. However, after a little TLC, it was carefully returned to the pond area when it started to recover. Species identity was later confirmed via email by a leading officer in the Froglife organisation.
https://www.froglife.org/info-advice/amphibians-and-reptiles/great-crested-newt/
Froglife advise:
‘If you do inadvertently disturb great crested newts you should halt the work and return the newts gently to their resting place.’
Lancs Wildlife Trust has also confirmed ID, they advise…
“These are a European Protected Species, however you are allowed to move them if they are in danger. We advise putting it in some long grass, under some wood/stones as it will be getting ready to hibernate.”
Great Crested Newts are the biggest newt species in the UK and have been around for approximately 40 million years.
Activities that can harm great crested newts
Activities that can affect great crested newts include:
• maintaining or restoring ponds, woodland, scrub or rough grassland
• restoring forest areas to lowland heaths
• ploughing close to breeding ponds or other bodies of water
• removing dense vegetation and disturbing the ground
• removing materials like dead wood piled on the ground
• excavating the ground, for example, to renovate a building
• filling in or destroying ponds or other water bodies
Building and development work can harm great crested newts and their habitats, for example, if it:
• removes habitat or makes it unsuitable
• disconnects or isolates habitats, such as by splitting it up
• changes habitats of other species, reducing the newts’ food sources
• increases shade and silt in ponds or other water bodies used by the newts
• changes the water table
• introduces fish, which will eat newt eggs or young
• increases the numbers of people, traffic and pollutants in the area or the number of chemicals that run off into ponds
Great Crested Newts have full legal protection under UK law making it an offence to kill, injure, capture, disturb or sell them, or to damage or destroy their habitats. This applies to all life-stages.
What you must not do
Things that would cause you to break the law include:
• capturing, killing, disturbing or injuring great crested newts deliberately
• damaging or destroying a breeding or resting place
• obstructing access to resting or sheltering places (deliberately or by not taking enough care)
• possessing, selling, controlling or transporting live or dead newts, or parts of them
• taking great crested newt eggs
You could get an unlimited fine and up to 6 months in prison for each offence if you’re found guilty.
Our UK wildlife is brilliant and needs all the help it can get. Consider creating a garden pond to help many species…
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/actions/how-build-pond
Pat Regan ©
http://pat-regan.blogspot.com/
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