Our licensed great crested newt specialists are able to undertake surveys throughout Cheshire, including Chester, Neston, Ellesmere port, Northwich, Winsford, Crewe, Nantwich, Wilmslow, Macclesfield and Sandbach, as well as the surrounding areas of Manchester, Liverpool, Wrexham, Warrington and Stoke-on-Trent. We are experienced in surveying, European Protected Species licensing, as well as mitigation design and implementation.
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. This protection extends to the habitats which support great crested newt and it is generally assumed that the species might be present in terrestrial habitats up to 500m of a breeding pond, depending on habitat quality, connectivity and population size.
Surveys for great crested newt are seasonally constrained to the period mid-March to mid-June, when great crested newts are present in their breeding ponds. Outside of this season terrestrial surveys using drift fencing and pitfall traps can be undertaken do determine their presence in terrestrial habitats. It is therefore crucial to identify the presence of GCN at an early stage in the planning process, in order to avoid timely and costly delays.
We use a combination of survey techniques, including bottle trapping, torching, egg searches, refugia searches and eDNA assessments.
For more information about great crested newt surveys, or any of our other ecological services, please call us on 02920 650331, or email us at enquiries@acerecology.co.uk.
Further information about great crested newts can be found in our articles Get The “Newt” Know How On Great Crested Newt Surveys, Great Crested Newts – How we Can Help You and A Year in the Life of a Great Crested Newt.
