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Newts in Nature
These are the three species of Newt native to the British Isles
Triturus vulgaris
(triturus = from the Greek Triton a demigod of sea and vulgaris = Latin for vulgar or common)
The Smooth or common newt is olive brown or pale brown with a bright yellow to orange, black spotted belly. The female is fairly plain and drab whilst the male has larger throat spots and develops a continuous wavy crest along its back in the breeding season and is marked all over with black spots. The adults grow to about 7-11cm long the males being slightly larger than females.
They are smaller than the great crested newts and males have a smaller crest.
Smooth newts are nocturnal and spend the day hiding under large stones or compost heaps.
The Newts usually spend winter on land hibernating (October to March) and enter the water again to breed in March/April.
The average lifespan is 6 years, although it is possible for a lifespan of 20 years to be attained.
Triturus helveticus
(Triturus = from the Greek Triton a demigod of the sea, helveticus = Switzerland, where the species was first discovered.
The Palmate newt is olive green to olive brown, with small spots. The female has a reddish stripe down the back when on land. Palmate and smooth newts look similar, but they can be distinguished by inspection of the throats: the smooth newt has a white spotted throat whereas the palmate’ throat is pinkish and unspotted in both sexes. The male palmate newt has a crest during the breeding season but it is straight-edged and much less obvious than the smooth newts. They also have a short filament at the end of the tail and have webbed hind feet, that tend to look more like hands (hence the name palmate). The females have none of these features and are almost identical to each other. Palmate newts are the smallest of the three species and quite timid.
The female newts grow to about 9cm, whilst the males grow to about 7.5 cm long.
These newts hibernate on land during winter and enter the water again for breeding in March/April.
Triturus Cristatus
(Triturus = from the Greek Triton a demigod of the sea, Cristatus = Latin for Crested)
The Great Crested Newt is dark grey-brown or black in colour with a more warty, rough skin. The underside is either yellow or bright orange with large black spots and the sides are stippled with tiny white dots. Males can be distinguished from females by the presence of a jagged crest that runs along their backs, dipping at the rear of the abdomen to a smoother-edged crest above and below the tail. Their tails also have a silvery-blue streak along each side. Female Great Crested Newts lack a crest and have a yellow-orange streak along the bottom of their tails. The male’s crest is more pronounced during the breeding season, and lies flat to the body when the newt is out of water.
Great Crested grow to about 17 cm long and it is possible for them to reach an age of 27 years.
The newts live in scrub woodland and undisturbed grassland from October to February and live in large ponds and slow moving streams from March to September. They breed from March to July.
The Great Crested Newt is the largest species of newt in Britain and the most threatened in terms of numbers.
Because of the massive decline in numbers it is strictly protected by British and European law, this makes it an offence to: kill, injure or capture them, disturb them in any way, damage or destroy their habitat, possess them or sell or trade them in any way.