Great Crested Newt Consultants

We are great crested newt consultants with many years of experience carrying out great crested newt (GCN) surveys and mitigation work.

Our staff hold Natural England and Countryside Council for Wales Great Crested Newt Survey Licences that allow us to carry out GCN surveys throughout England and Wales.

During the correct time of year we carry out bottle trapping, torch searching, netting, terrestrial hand searches and in licenced cases also pitfall trapping.

We have held site specific Natural England and Countryside Council for Wales great crested newt licences for various sites with the work under those licences including the erection of temporary and permanent amphibian fencing and pitfall traps. The licences have also covered the construction of new ponds and terrestrial habitat and the exclusion of great crested newts.

The information below is some general information on great crested newts that will aid you in understanding the species and working out when you may need a great crested newt consultant to help you.

General Great Crested Newt Information.

The great crested newts population has suffered a major decline in Britain over the last century. Numerous ponds have been lost, unmanaged ponds have become silted up and over-shaded, development has destroyed ponds and associated terrestrial habitat and caused fragmentation of populations. The loss of grassland, scrub and woodland has resulted in fewer opportunities for foraging, dispersal and hibernation.

The UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) contains a great crested newt Species Action Plan (SAP) aimed at maintaining the existing range and population status, as well as increasing the number of populations through re-colonisation.

The great crested newt is listed on Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, recently modified by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. The great crested newt is therefore subject to the provisions of Schedule 9, which makes it an offence to:

• Intentionally kill, injure or take a great crested newt.
• Possess or control any live or dead specimen or anything derived from a great crested newt.
• Intentionally or recklessly damage, destroy or obstruct access to any structure or place used as shelter or protection by a great crested newt.
• Intentionally or recklessly disturb a great crested newt while it is occupying a structure or place, which it uses for that purpose.

The great crested newt is also listed on Annex II and Annex IV of The Conservation (Natural Habitats & c) Regulations 1994. Regulation 39 makes it an offence to:

• Deliberately capture or kill a great crested newt.
• Deliberately disturb a great crested newt.
• Deliberately take or destroy the eggs of a great crested newt.
• Damage or destroy a breeding site or resting place of a great crested newt.

The legislation applies to all life stages of great crested newts.

The maximum fine on conviction of offenses under Section 9 Regulation 39 currently stands at £5,000. The CroW Act 2000 amendment also allows for a custodial sentence of up to six months instead of, or in addition to, a fine. In addition, items, which may constitute evidence of the commission of an offence, may be seized and detained.

In order to understand the potential effects of development it is essential to understand a little of the great crested newt ecology.

Great crested newts breed in ponds and other waterbodies. They can begin to migrate to their breeding ponds as early as the first frost-free days in late January with the majority reaching their breeding ponds by mid March. Timing will be influenced by a number of factors, mainly evening temperatures above 5^oC and recent rain.

The peak egg-laying period is from mid-March to mid-June. The newts will lay their eggs individually, mainly on the leaves of submerged plants. The larva hatch after three weeks and then take another 2-3 months to complete larval development. Adult newts generally leave their breeding ponds from mid June onwards.

Once the larvae have completed metamorphosis (the transition from aquatic larvae to land-adapted juveniles, called efts), they emerge from the pond. This emergence begins in late August and generally continues until late October. It takes 2-4 years to reach sexual maturity, during which time the newts will be terrestrial.

Adults and immature newts spent the winter in places that afford protection from frost and flooding. This will generally be underground amongst tree roots, in mammal burrows, or under suitable refuges above ground like deadwood or rubble piles. Hibernation may last from October to February.

Whilst on land, outside the hibernation period, great crested newts will forage at night, taking a wide range of invertabrate prey.

From the above, it can be seen that great crested newts spend the majority of their time on land and only visit the ponds for breeding purposes. As a result, great crested newt surveys need to be timed very carefully. Terrestrial great crested newt surveys are very inaccurate and the only time that surveys can be truly thorough is in the narrow window of opportunity between March and September.

Great crested newts will travel large distances between ponds and terrestrial refuges. It is recommended that anywhere within 500m of a pond should be treated as potential great crested newt habitat and should be surveyed and evaluated.

An experienced surveyor must carry out the surveys and must be in possession of an appropriate Natural England great crested newt survey licence.

It is essential that great crested newt surveys are planned well in advance of any development and ideally before Planning Consent is sought. Surveys can only be carried out at the appropriate time of year and repeat surveys are essential.

Survey guidelines suggest that surveys are carried out between mid March and mid June. Four surveys of all ponds within 500m of the site must be carried out to establish a presence or abscence, with at least two of those surveys being carried out between mid April and mid May. If great crested newts are identified during the first four surveys a further two surveys must be carried out to establish a population size. The two extra surveys must be carried out before mid June with at least one of the surveys being carried out between mid April and mid May.

If great crested newts are to be effected by any development, a thorough assessment of the population is essential followed by the design of a comprehensive mitigation package. Only when this has been done can a licence application be submitted to Natural England for approval. It takes 30 working days for a licence appliction to be determined and the period of time that mitigation measures take can be measured in months. It is therefore essential to plan well in advance of development commencing.