Great crested newt (Also known as northern crested newt or warty newt) is the largest newt species in united kingdom. They are significantly larger than smooth newt and palmate newt. Most of them are having length of 15cm and seems having bulky look. They are black or brown in color and have rough skin. In the initial stage of they look like fish. They breed in ponds or lakes but spend major time of their lives on land. Great crested newt are comfortable in the habitat like broad leaf and carniferous forests, ponds and lakes, farmland, tundra, tanga, etc where they can get enough invertebrate food to survive. They remain in ponds for breeding season only then they come out on land. They are found in Asia, Britain, Europe, Russia and wales but the majority of population is found in south-west Britain which is the lower side land of england.

Over several years, there is a significant declined in the population of great crested newts. Urbanization is found as one of the major reason behind destruction of great crested newt and their habitats. To protect these most endangered species and habitats, the UK government has ruled an act under schedule 5 Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It has an additional protection in the UK under regulation 39 of the Conservation Regulation 1994. According to this Acts, it is an offense to:

  • intetionally or unintentionally kill or injure them
  • cause harm to them in anyway
  • destroy their habitats
  • Possess live newt or selling any organ of them

The UK government has released the mitigation guidelines to protect these species. It is a task of environmental consultancy to implant mitigation schemes and create newt fencing in case to save properties. The environmental consultancy have a team of ecological scientist and a legal license to conduct newt survey and release survey result to submit to the government authority. When the authority allow you to implant newt fencing , they also order you to implant mitigation schemes. This way the newts will not harm and their artificial habitats will keep them safe from the human intervention and at the same time human will also save a big property loss.