The Great Crested Newt is also known as the Warty Newt because its body is covered with lots of wart-like bumps. It can be found in most places in England apart from Cornwall and Devon. It likes to live in ponds or small lakes which have lots of water weeds and no fish, but sometimes it can be found in large garden ponds.

The Great Crested Newt has a base colour of brown-black and is covered with black markings which give it the appearance of being black all over. It has an orange-yellow coloured belly with large black spots. The Great Crested Newt has four toes on its front feet and five toes on its hind feet. Around April to May the male has a large jagged-looking crest running along the length of its body and this is why it has its name the ‘Great Crested Newt’.

The female Great Crested Newt lays around two hundred eggs and wraps each egg individually in a water plant leaf. After about two to three weeks ‘larvae’ or ‘newt tadpoles’ hatch out of the eggs. They have long tails and feathery gills. Newt tadpoles almost look like little fish even though they have tiny legs and digits. Within three to four months the young develop into miniature adults called ‘efts’ and this is when they leave the water to spend more time on land where they feed on insects and worms.