Palmate Newt, early April 2020.

Earlier this week we spotted our palmate newt, who’d taken it upon himself to shimmy up the plastic lining of the pond to catch some sun.

Percival seems to have grown and is now about 3 inches long, with a handsome long and dare I say, muscular, handsome tail.

The pond is a peaceful spot.   And nice to know that he enjoys a little sun – we liberated the witch hazel from a huge patch of ivy which had completely overtaken the tree.

We’d bagged up the ivy remains and were going to dispose, but then I had a flash that they could quite possibly be full of future bug life – butterfly eggs and more.

So in the end the cuttings were placed over on H’s spot, chopped-up but in open air to rot down as all things in nature do…**

But removing the ivy from the hazel, though life-saving for the tree, radically changed the overall ambiance of the pond area.  Where once was damp and cool and dark now sparkled with the heat of daylight.

Glad to see he likes the light and that all in all he’s a happy little newt!

Close-up of Percival (April 2020)

Webbed fingers and toes crossed that he’s got a Penelope Palmate Newt to play and mate with this spring.

** Natural rot’s always best if you have the space for it! And don’t forget that rot’s a moveable feast: start an area to dump cuttings and garden waste, leave and accumulate for a few seasons, then move it and you’ve got yourself a perfectly prepared new growing bed.  There are a few provisos to this, namely to avoid mulching down any diseased material, and I personally avoid mulching or leaving in place any cuttings which are prickly (eg blackberry, roses, etc.)