They really take me back to my childhood in Warwickshire when we had a large pond with lots of newts. I remember how they occasionally come up to the surface to have a bit of a look at you before rapidly disappearing.
They are quite shy and seem to be able to hear us, but at night we can go out with a torch and have a good look at them.
A nice fact is that the mother newt wraps up each egg in pond weed or a leaf to camouflage it before it hatches.
I understand that some friends have discovered the rare Great Crested newt in their pond at Thorpe Morieux, but we are delighted to be playing host to the more common Smooth variety.
