Great Crested Newt
Identification: A robust salamander with a broad head. Length up to 18 cm, but most are considerably smaller. Females larger than males. Very coarse skin. Back colour brown to bluish black, with more or less clear round black spots. Lower part of the flanks with conspicuous white stippling. Belly orange to yellow with large black spots. Belly colour continuous on underside legs and toes. Throat dark orange to black with small white speckles. In the breeding season, the males have a high crest on the back that is indented at the base of the tail. On the back the crest is irregularly notched, on the tail just a little. A distinct pearly stripe on the tail. The females have a small crest on the tail, with an orange band on the bottom edge. After the breeding season, the crests disappear and the animals leave the water. The sexes are much more difficult to distinguish in the terrestrial stage. The back is uniformly black sometimes, mainly in females. They may also have a yellowish stripe over the middle of the back. In males, the cloaca and underside of the tail are black, in females orange to yellow. Males often keep the pearly stripe on the tail in the terrestrial stage. Their skin appears coarse due to small warts on the back, flanks, head and legs. Larvae up to 8.5 cm long, bluish black with a black spotted crest on the tail. Their fingers and toes are remarkably long.
Range: North and mid-Europe, eastwards up to the Urals. Widespread in Britain, although less abundant in the north and west. Not found in Ireland.
Habitat: In wooded or more open areas such as small-scale agricultural landscapes. They prefer to breed in deep ponds that contain plenty of aquatic vegetation and some exposure to the sun. Also in pools, lakes and ditches. In south of their range, they also occur higher in the mountains, in the Alps locally up to altitudes of 1500 metres or more.
Habits: The Great Crested Newt stays in the breeding water for the longest period of all water salamanders. Strictly nocturnal in the breeding season, but in summer on sunny days they are sometimes seen hanging on the water surface. Migration to breeding water from February onwards, depending on weather conditions. Between mid-July and the beginning of October, they leave the water again. Great Crested Newts are known to range further from their breeding ponds than the other two native species, and may be found in quite diverse habitats in late summer, such as gardens, ditches and woodlands. Some populations have been reported to remain present in ponds all year round. Breeding takes place from March to June. Produces in the course of the season, mainly in April and May, 200-400 eggs that are each separately folded between the leaves of aquatic plants. The eggs have a yellowish green colour. After 2-3 weeks, the 10-12 mm long larvae hatch; after 3-4 months they are around 8 cm and ready to metamorphose. They then stay in the water for a longer time than the young of the other native salamander species. Sometimes the larvae overwinter in the water and metamorphose in spring. The larvae mainly feed on free-swimming invertebrates like Cladocera. The newly metamorphosed salamanders are 5-8 cm long and the males mature after 2-3 years, females a little later. Even when they are still immature, the animals enter the water in spring. Adults feed on anything that fits in their mouths like Amphipoda, larvae of flies and earthworms. Hibernates mostly on land, deep under ground or in cellars, but regularly in water as well.
How to find: At the end of February and beginning of March, they can be found migrating to their breeding waters. After that they can be found in these waters. Mainly seen at night by flashing in the water with a torch. After the breeding season, they can be found on land again hidden beneath stones and logs, etc. in places well overgrown with vegetation.