Miss Perspicacia Tick decided to add:

bigjon wrote:
We were cleaning out the pumps on our pond this week and came across
this - http://www.topqualityfreeware.com/lizzie.html
It was about three inches long, nose to tip of tail, and played dead
until released into the water. We are presuming it's a common newty
type thing, but as we've only had the pond a couple of years we are
wondering...
We now know there are a couple of these above at least, maybe more
along with a shedfull of frogs and countless tadpoles!

Thanks anybody that can help !!

Not meaning to be unkind, but lizards are reptiles and have dry scaly skins
(we actually get a few round here, I saw one in a dry wall in town a couple
of years back, a male common lizard. That was, of course, before they
started destroying the railway).

Anyway, what you have there, my friend, is a newt, which is a member of the
order Amphibia, characterised by their smooth skins. The size tells me it's
a male Palmate Newt (/Triturus helveticus/) (the Common or Smooth Newt is
somewhat larger - reaching up to 4½").

They're good to have around as they'll eat many garden nasties but, if it
shares its habitat with frogs and/or toads then, depending on how many there
are (newts, that is) you may want to find another home for one or t'other
(it's probably kinder to move the newts, frogs - and toads - are very set in
their ways and don't care to move home as they will return to the pond in
which they were spawned) because spawn and tadpoles form a large part of the
newt's diet.

If you're sure that he's the only newt (highly unlikely) then you may leave
him as he won't do much damage (especially to a large frog and/or toad
population).

Otherwise, it would be kinder (to the other amphibious inhabitants) to
relocate as many as you can find.

Ok, now you have me thinking.....

The pond is circular, about 10ft across. We have counted over 60 frogs and
have had spawn that covered about a third of the surface this year. There
are tadpoles all over it, and these "newts" appear to just swim about
amongst them, although they are not very sociable. I think that if they are
eating the tadpoles, I don't mind as the frog population can cope ??