|
Where have all the newts gone?
"Anthony Campbell" wrote in message ... Until a couple of years ago our small pond in our north London garden was regularly populated with common newts breeding in spring. For the last two years there have been no newts. Does this reflect the widespread loss of amphibians that has been reported? They are certainly missed. =============================== I'm from America, the mid South. We have LOADS of newts here. They spawn in the ponds along with the frogs and toads in spring. I have read about the loss of amphibians but it sure doesn't apply to some of us ponders in the USA. :-) -- RM.... Frugal ponding since 1995. rec.ponder since late 1996. My Pond & Aquarium Pages: http://tinyurl.com/9do58 ~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö |
Where have all the newts gone?
Anthony Campbell wrote, On 16/03/2007 11:01:
Until a couple of years ago our small pond in our north London garden was regularly populated with common newts breeding in spring. For the last two years there have been no newts. Does this reflect the widespread loss of amphibians that has been reported? They are certainly missed. I've never had newts, and for the last few years no tadpoles either. Our pond is in North Essex, and neighbours get lots of wildlife. We used to get frog spawn. Then one year the pump inlet was moved over winter and when tadpoles hatched they got mashed. Now we get none. I expect that the water movement is too fast so frogs and toads don't bother spawning, but are happy to sit around the pond catching flies. Either that, or they can smell death in our pond and know not to lay there :( Have you made any changes to your pond filtration or plant cover? -- DavidM www.djmorgan.org.uk |
Where have all the newts gone?
Good question.
Garden ponds have bee life savers for amphibians where natural habitat has been altered for housing and commercial development. Like all amphibians they are very sensitive to chemicals. I always worry about neighbors spraying and fertilizing and applying chemicals where our native frogs are concerned. Your newts may have fallen prey to this. Or there may be several industrious cats operating in the neighborhood. Or some hungry birds. If you know of a pond where newts breed you can go harvest some eggs or baby newtlings and adopt them. As always you must be careful to follow local law when mucking around in natural ponds. Another safe bet is a fellow garden pond keeper. kathy :-) ************************************** AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com. |
Where have all the newts gone?
Anthony Campbell wrote:
Until a couple of years ago our small pond in our north London garden was regularly populated with common newts breeding in spring. For the last two years there have been no newts. Does this reflect the widespread loss of amphibians that has been reported? They are certainly missed. I knew that there were concerns about the crested newt in the UK but hadn't realised until you posted that this now applies to the common newt as well. Did a bit of googling and discovered that, like the crested, they are now a protected species:- http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfact...iles/479.shtml I wonder if their further decline relates to the hot summers, cold winters and lack of rainfall we have had over the last couple of years - hopefully our recent mild winter and very wet weather this year will mean that they will start to recover in numbers this year. Gill |
Where have all the newts gone?
|
Where have all the newts gone?
On Mon, 19 Mar 2007 06:37:22 CST, Anthony Campbell
wrote: One or two may be dormant but most have just disappeared, including the Elodea which always used to proliferate wildly. Checking the pH is a good idea; I'll do that. Don't pull them out too soon, they may come back. I know a lot of arrowheads & Sagittarius are like that, slow to return. You also may have some small but alive elodea in the pots. ~ jan ------------ Zone 7a, SE Washington State |
Where have all the newts gone?
|
| All times are GMT +1. The time now is 11:10 PM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
GardenBanter