The 2018 Great Crested Newt Survey Season is Almost Upon Us
The great British winter is nearly over, which means amphibian species are starting to get ‘busy’ in ponds around the UK. This includes the rare and protected great crested newt, which breed in ponds between mid-March to mid-June.
Great crested newts are fully protected under UK and European law and are frequently encountered on development sites. It is an offence to kill, capture, or disturb them, or to damage or destroy their ponds or the adjoining terrestrial habitats. The habitats within 500m of a breeding pond are generally considered to be protected by the legislation.
If you are planning to develop a site that has ponds or water bodies on it then you may need to undertake a great crested newt survey to assess whether the pond is used by this species for breeding. Now is the time to start planning these surveys as they can only be undertaken between March and June, the main time period that great crested newts use ponds. It is possible to undertake terrestrial surveys outside of this season, using drift fencing and pitfall traps, however this will not be sufficient to confirm whether a pond is used by breeding great crested newt.
Our staff are fully-licensed great crested newt specialists and we frequently undertake bottle-trapping, egg-searching, netting and torch surveys to inspect ponds for the presence of great crested newt. We are also experienced in European Protected Species licence applications, as well as mitigation design and implementation (which will be required if great crested newt are found on the site).
For more information about Great Crested Newt Surveys and the other Ecology Services we can offer, call us on 029 2065 0331 or contact us on info@acerecology.co.uk. Click here for examples of our work and here to find out what great crested newts get up to throughout the year.
