Great crested newt

Britain's largest newt has become our rarest newt in recent decades.

Great crested newt numbers are declining due to the disappearance and fragmentation of its seasonal abodes.

In the spring these 'miniature water dragons' make an annual pilgrimage to their aquatic breeding habitat - a ditch, waterway, or more commonly a pond. They lay their eggs in the vegetation where they develop into larvae. From August to September young newts emerge and head to dry land for the winter where they'll hibernate in woods, grassland or farmland.

North East Wales is the great crested newt stronghold; three quarters of the approximately 900 known Welsh great crested newt sites occur in Flintshire, north Denbighshire and Wrexham. Five areas in Wales have been designated as Special Areas of Conservation because they have large newt populations.

The great crested newt is larger than our other native newts, the smooth and palmate. It also has darker and rougher skin.