Devon Wildlife Trust You are likely to spot the smooth newt in your garden or local pond. It breeds in water in summer and spends the rest of the year in grassland and woodland, hibernating over winter.
Newts are amphibians, breeding in ponds during the spring and spending most of the rest of the year feeding on invertebrates in woodland, hedgerows, marshes and tussocky grassland. They hibernate underground, among tree roots and in old walls. The smooth newt is also known as the 'Common newt' and is the species you are most likely to find in your garden pond.
How to Identify
The smooth newt is grey-brown, with an orange belly and neat black spots all over. In the breeding season, males have a smooth crest running the full length of their body and tail.
https://www.devonwildlifetrust.org/wildlife-explorer/amphibians/smooth-newt
Top Photo: Mark Hofstetter https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Teichmolch_maennchen_web.jpg
Bottom Photo: Anevrisme https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Triturus_vulgaris.jpg
Photo: Benny Trapp https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Benny_Trapp_Vipera_berus.jpg
Devon Reptile and Amphibian Group DRAG aims to raise awareness and understanding of the conservation of amphibians and reptiles, in Devon and the UK, through reptile and amphibian recording, and habitat management work. DRAG aims to bring together people with an interest in reptiles and amphibians.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/DevonARG/
Devon Biodiversity Record Centre Submit your sightings of Smooth Newts and other species in Devon
https://www.dbrc.org.uk/wildlife-sightings/
Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust The smooth newt is the UK's most widespread newt species, found throughout Britain and Ireland. Like the common frog, smooth newts may colonise garden ponds.
Identification Smooth newts can grow to 10cm and are generally brown in colour. Males develop a continuous wavy crest along their back in the breeding season. The belly of both sexes is yellow/orange with small black spots. The spots on the throat provide a good way of telling this species apart from palmate newts (which lack spots on their throat).
Lifecycle Adults are often found in ponds during the breeding season and into summer (February – June). Spawn is laid as individual eggs, each of which is wrapped carefully in a leaf of pond weed, by the female newt. Unlike the tadpoles of frogs and toads, newt larvae develop their front legs before their back legs. They breathe through external feathery gills which sprout from behind the head. Juvenile newts leave the water in later summer after losing their gills. Smooth newts eat invertebrates either on land or in water. They also prey on frog tadpoles. Outside of the breeding season, newts come onto land and are often found in damp places, frequently underneath logs and debris in the summer months.
https://www.arc-trust.org/smooth-newt
Wikipedia: The smooth newt, northern smooth newt or common newt (Lissotriton vulgaris) is a species of newt. It is widespread in much of Eurasia, from the British Isles to Siberia and northern Kazakhstan, and introduced to Australia. Individuals are brown with an orange to white, spotted underside and reach a length of 8–11 cm (3.1–4.3 in), with males being larger than females. The skin is dry and velvety while the newts live on land but becomes smooth when they migrate into water for breeding. Breeding males develop a more vivid colour pattern and a conspicuous skin seam (crest) on their back.
Originally described by Carl Linnaeus as a lizard, the smooth newt went by different genus names before the current classification in Lissotriton was adopted. Three subspecies are currently accepted. Four former subspecies, all with more restricted ranges, are now classified as separate species, as they are distinct in appearance and genetically: the Caucasian, the Greek, Kosswig's and Schmidtler's smooth newt. The smooth newt forms a species complex with these four species and the Carpathian newt and hybridises with some of them.
Smooth newts live on land for most of the year, where they are mostly nocturnal and hide during the day. They can adapt to a wide range of natural or semi-natural habitats, from forests over field edges to parks and gardens. The newts feed mainly on various invertebrates such as insects or earthworms and are themselves eaten by predators such as fish, birds or snakes. Between spring and summer, they breed in ponds or similar water bodies. Males court females with a ritualised underwater display. Females then lay their eggs on water plants, and larvae hatch after 10 to 20 days. They develop over around three months before metamorphosing into terrestrial juveniles (efts). Maturity is reached after two to three years, and adults can reach an age of up to 14 years.
The smooth newt is common over much of its range and classified as Least Concern species by the IUCN. It is however negatively affected by habitat destruction and fragmentation and the introduction of fish. Like other European amphibians, it is listed in the Berne Convention as a protected species.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smooth_newt
National Biodiversity Network Lissotriton vulgaris
The NBN Atlas is a collaborative project that aggregates biodiversity data from multiple sources and makes it available and usable online. It is the UK’s largest collection of freely available biodiversity data.
https://species.nbnatlas.org/species/NHMSYS0020194827
