Preparing for the Newt Ponds

The Newt Conservation Partnership has chosen our rewilding site to explore if we could provide the right environment for pond creation to provide a suitable habitat for Great Crested Newts. Their numbers have declined hugely in the last 100 years, mainly due to intensive agriculture and loss of ponds. As a result, the Great Crested Newt is now strictly protected under British and European law which makes it an offence to: kill, injure, capture or disturb them; damage or destroy their habitat; and to possess, sell or trade. This law refers to all great crested newt life stages, including eggs. Creating new habitats is critical, and we want to help!

Habitats need to have a clean water source, a high chance of population viability and need to be within range of an existing newt population to maximise the chance of natural colonisation. This results in better conservation outcomes as newt populations are strengthened and can expand across the countryside, rather than trying to retain populations with poor long term viability in urbanised, heavily managed environments.

Step one was all about digging some test pits to assess the soil and water retention, and we started this work and within a week the test pits were full!

We will be monitor the test pits on a monthly basis to see how much water the pits retain, and hopefully we will be able to progress this project next year if the test pits prove to be viable. Watch this space!