writes
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,

Kay writes
Yep - it's a common newty type thing!
Without looking it up, I think it's the common (smooth) newt, and I
think the spots and orange tum make it a male.

Nice things to have in a pond!

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!

You've set up the pond nicely, to get things moving in that quick :-)

Try looking with a torch tonight - you may find you have a lot more than
you think! They tend to hide away in the weed during the day, and are a
lot easier to see at night.

Later in the summer look out for newt tadpoles (which are slimline
things, without the big head of the frog tadpoles) and baby newts about
an inch long and much lighter colour; also this years froglets about 1
cm long, and last year's, about an inch or so.

Well done from me also :-))

I had a similar experience and was amazed at how quickly these pondy
thingies found and started living in my new patch of water - I expected
it to take years but some appeared in year 1 and others in year 2, and
by year 3 it looked for all the world like it had been there for
centuries, with all sorts of pondy / banky / watery thingies crawling /
swimming / breeding / flying / chasing around over the year. My next
problem, like yours, was to find out what they all were, and its really
fun to find out what appears and what it is and how it behaves. I'm
totally hooked. Have fun!
--
David