Great Crested Newt
Triturus cristatus
About
The largest of the UK’s native newt species at 14-16cm in length. Their skin is black or dark brown with rough, ‘warty’ darker spots (which may have white tips). Their underside is bright orange with irregular black blotches, the pattern of which is unique to each individual. Males have a jagged crest along their backs which is more pronounced during the breeding season and a white flash on the tail. Females lack the crest and have a yellow/orange stripe on the underside of their tail.
They favour large ponds with abundant weeds and no fish. Active at night, spending the day at the bottom of ponds or in vegetation. Feeds mainly on invertebrates and tadpoles.
Populations have been in serious decline over the last 100 years across Britain, mainly due to habitat loss and intensive agriculture. Since 1945, 1 million farm ponds have disappeared from our countryside and 80% of those remaining are of poor quality. Their terrestrial habitats are also being lost as well.
Great Crested Newts have been around for approximately 40 million years. Adult great crested newts can ‘breathe’ under water by absorbing oxygen through their skin – but they do still need to come to the surface every so often to take a good gulp of air into their lungs. They are armed with a toxin which they secrete from their skin which gives them protection from predators. If damaged, they are able to regenerate limbs, eyes, jaws and organs and can live up to 15 years.
Conservation status
Protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981. Priority Species under the UK Post-2010 Biodiversity Framework. Listed as a European Protected Species under Annex IV of the European Habitats Directive. Triturus cristatus is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Our Crest
The great crested newt Triturus cristatus is Britain’s most strictly protected amphibian... The male has a jagged crest along the back that dips at the rear of the abdomen...*
It’s the line of the Pennines interspersed with ponds
the trail the insects take as they dodge our warty path
the edge of a pond at exactly the right stage of succession.
It’s the collection of efts playing at the bottom of the pond
the path of the brown trout in the River Rother
and of the otter zigzagging across Furnace Lane.
It’s the ragged brushstroke of a cloud about to empty rain
to swell the river to flood the wetlands to fill the pond with fish
the trail of a bulldozer digging new ponds in brownfield Sheffield.
It’s the ink of the printer detailing your next conservation plan
the edge of a smile passed from volunteer to volunteer
the joyous trail of our dance across the open space of water.
*from the Great Crested Newt Conservation Handbook, by Tom Langton, Catherine Beckett and Jim Foster, published by Froglife, 2001
Length: 93 seconds
Poem: Ruth Yates
Read by: Ruth Yates
Sculpture
This sculpture was inspired by the crest of the newt and the way Ruth used this in their poem to link the newt's crest to the environment which sustains it and the activities of the people working to protect this species. I wanted to keep it simple, with a single shining line snaking its way across the background. Rusted steel was chosen as the background to provide a contrast to the shining line and also to reference the warty skin of the newt.
Crest
150x45cm
Bronze and steel
Work in progress
Images and videos of various stages of the sculpture's production:
