Join Ealing Wildlife Group on Saturday morning, 30 November at Paradise Fields in Greenford to learn about great crested newts. You will help with habitat management to enhance and manage the site for them. Great Crested Newts are a nationally and European rare species. They are also a protected species and, sadly are in decline. Here in Ealing, we’re lucky to have a few sites across the borough where they live and breed. As the UK is a European stronghold, it’s absolutely vital that we protect our fragmented populations. Come along and help on Sunday, 30 November at 10 am at Paradise Fields in Greenford, so book here:
Ealing has a few sites where the great crested newts cling on. Unfortunately, their habitats are degrading in value and suitability for breeding. This is because these old ponds are becoming overgrown and neglected.
Ealing Wildlife Group (EWG) is committed to protecting those habitats by improving their quality. A combined approach is being taken by the Council park ranger team, Froglife, Ealing Wildlife Group and Friends of Horsenden Hill. In recent years habitat restoration and maintenance work to keep the breeding ponds at Horsenden in suitable condition for Great Crested Newts to thrive. The Ealing’s Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) sets out the great crested newts Species Action Plan (SAP).
Nifty Newts Habitat Management Event
Meet at the beaver mural underpass, which is the entrance to Paradise fields in Greenford. The underpass is opposite the car park at the McDonald’s in Westway Cross Retail Park in Greenford.
On the day you will learn and undertake traditional and wildlife-friendly management techniques to enhance and manage the beaver enclosure for great crested newts. You will also have the opportunity to meet other volunteers and learn new skills. Make sure to bring clothing you don’t mind getting dirty, and lots of water.
Nifty Newts Habitat Management Day Tickets, Sun, Nov 30, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Great Crested Newt
The Great Crested Newt (GCN) is the UK’s largest newt species reaching from 14 cm to 17 cm in length. They are dark grey to brown in colour with lots of darker patches making them appear blackish overall. They also have lots of tiny warty, white spots covering their skin. The undersides and tips of the toes in GCN are orange to yellow with large black spots covering the belly in both sexes.
Males have an impressive undulating crest running the length of their backs which gives them their name. It should be noted that other newt species also have a crest, which is a common source of misidentification when it comes to Great Crested Newt. The crest is far more pronounced in the breeding season but lies flat against their bodies making it almost invisible when they are on land or taken out of water. Females lack a crest but do have an orange yellow stripe running along the lower edge of their tails. Males have a distinctive white flash along the midline of their tail.
Conservation Status
Their conservation status of Great Crested Newts are:
- 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.
Great Crested Newts ideally require a mosaic of specific habitat features to thrive. Large ponds of 50 to 250 square metres with a dense floating aquatic vegetation covering up to two thirds of the water surface are ideal for breeding. They rely on nearby woodland, scrub and rough grassland to thrive in their terrestrial stages. Also then hibernate usually amongst tree roots and dead hedges, at the base of walls or under stones, or in underground burrows of other small creatures.
Adult newts feed on invertebrates on land and the larval newts feed on a variety of aquatic life including invertebrates, frog or toad tadpoles, small fish and even larval newts of their own and other species. Their terrestrial and aquatic stages depend on age and time of year, with adults hibernating on land. They migrate up to 1 km to breeding ponds in Spring, then return to land once breeding has ended. Larval newts emerge from ponds in late summer or early Autumn, becoming terrestrial and hibernating later in the year.
Some larval newts may overwinter in the pond if they haven’t fully developed that season. They reach sexual maturity and return to their natal pond to breed usually in their third year.
Distribution of Great Crested Newts
Nationally: Widespread across lowland England and Wales, with highest concentrations in the Southeast of England. Suffolk is a stronghold.
London & Ealing: Great Crested Newts are scarce and localised in London occurring in approximately half of the capital’s boroughs in appropriate habitat.
In Ealing, we have one known population at Horsenden Hill and Horsenden West that appears to be thriving, having been surveyed by Ealing Wildlife Ground and a licensed ecologist member of the group. There is also is suitable habitat at Islip Manor Meadows and Yeading Brook Meadows, which will be the focus of future surveys to establish presence.
Factors affecting the species
- Habitat fragmentation caused by development leading to reduction in population size, isolation
of smaller populations over time and creation of barriers to newt movement between sites - Loss of suitable breeding ponds from drainage or deliberate infilling
- Loss of terrestrial habitat for foraging and hibernation by human activity
- Introduction of fish to breeding ponds which consume larvae
- Release of non-native or invasive species that compete with or eat newts
- Reduction of submerged vegetation required for breeding
- Pollution of water bodies, or eutrophication leading to declines in water quality
- Pond deterioration through neglect or misuse – excessive removal of vegetation during breeding
season, overgrazing or mowing of surrounding vegetation, natural silting, overshadowing by trees
or reclamation of derelict land - Climate change may also be having an impact on global amphibian populations through altered
temperatures and increased exposure to UV radiation - Disease transmission between populations and non-native or invasive species also threaten global amphibian populations. Chytridiomycosis caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans is a newly emerging disease concern for newts in the UK
- Damage to bank profiles, underwater vegetation and sediment in freshwater habitats due to dogs
in ponds, making them less suitable or directly harming aquatic biodiversity
For more information, look at Great Crested Newts – Ealing Wildlife Group.
Support the Great Crested Newts of Ealing
Come along on the 30 November to learn about Great Crested Newts. You will learn traditional and wildlife-friendly management techniques with Ealing Wildlife Group to enhance and manage the beaver enclosure for great crested newts. You will also have the opportunity to meet other volunteers and learn new skills. Reserve a spot
Since newts have massively declined in the wider countryside, our gardens and their ponds have become an important safe haven, and a very good place to find them. Here’s an inspiring blog about Finding newts in your garden.
Create a Wildlife Pond
A wildlife pond is one of the single best features for attracting new wildlife to the garden. If you have a garden or allotment, you could build a pond from the Wildlife Trust. It is thought that some amphibians, such as frogs, are now more common in garden ponds than in the countryside. You can build a pond at any time during the year, but if you start in autumn or late winter, it will get established much quicker. For some tips on Newts
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