GREAT CRESTED NEWTS
(GCN)

GCN are the UK’s largest native newt species and can grow up to 17cm in length.

They have three distinctive features that set them apart from the other two native newts (the smooth & the palmate newt).

These features are; black ‘warty’ skin, an orange or yellow belly with irregular black spots and during the breeding season the male newts have a jagged crest running from the head down the back to the tail. Males also have a distinctive white stripe on the tail during the breeding season.

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Great crested newts (GCN) are protected under UK and international legislation:

• Bern Convention 1979: Appendix II

• Wildlife & Countryside Act (as Amended) 1981: Schedule 5

• EC Habitats Directive 1992: Annex II and IV

• Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 (as amended): Schedule 2

• Countryside Rights of Way Act 2000 (CRoW 2000)

All of which make it an offence to:

• capture, kill, disturb or injure a great crested newt deliberately

• damage or destroy a breeding or resting place

• obstruct access to their resting or sheltering places (deliberately or by not taking enough care)

• possess, sell, control or transport live or dead newts, or parts of them

• take great crested newt eggs

If any ponds are within 500m of the project site then a GCN survey will have to be performed. Prior to starting a pond survey, a Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) survey will be performed to detect the likelihood of GCN presence in a pond. This survey, for planning purposes is not enough to gain a favourable application but is a tool that will be used to help the application. GCN surveys are generally carried out between mid-March and mid-June when they return from their over wintering refuge such as logs, stones and stone walls to their chosen ponds to breed. A minimum of four surveys are required with two of the surveys being between mid-April and mid-May. If GCN are detected then six surveys will be carried out with three being between mid-April to mid-May.

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Survey Methods

Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) surveys
The HSI for great crested newts (GCN) is a measure of habitat suitability. The purpose of this assessment is to carry out a detailed inspection of the ponds, other water bodies and surrounding habitats within 500 metres of the proposed development site using the HSI methodology cited by Oldham et al. 2000

 

Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis 
eDNA testing is a technique used to determine the Presence/Absence of great crested newts (GCN) in ponds during the breeding season (April-June). It involves taking water samples of the pond/s in question at multiple sample points. The samples are sent for laboratory analysis.

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Presence/Absence Surveys
• Bottle trapping – involves placing modified 2 litre plastic bottles around the pond edge. They are left overnight and any GCN are recorded and released the following morning.
• Torch survey – A high powered torch is used to look for GCN when it is suitably dark.
• Egg search – Suitable vegetation around the pond edge is examined for GCN eggs.
• Netting – This method is used if one of the above three cannot be. It is especially useful in turbid ponds.
• Refuge search - Searching terrestrial habitats for sheltering GCN.

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Further information: https://www.gov.uk/great-crested-newts-surveys-and-mitigation-for-development-projects