We have a newt !

I have been watching the new wildlife pond closely over the past few weeks, in the hope of discovering frogspawn. Sadly none so far, however the snail population is increasing rapidly - can you have too many snails ? There are now also several water boatmen scurrying around just below the surface of the water and today I saw a newt, sunning itself in the shallows !

A quick google has identified it as a smooth or common newt and it seems this is the time of year you are most likely to spot them in garden ponds as they emerge from hibernation on land and seek out suitable breeding habitat i.e ponds.

The only drawback - they feed on frog tadpoles and it was only today I decided as none had arrived naturally I would import some from a friend's pond.