Smooth Newt

Distribution of Smooth Newts in Buckinghamshire
© Buckinghamshire Environmental Records Centre

Adult Smooth Newts grow to about 11 cm long. Females and non-breeding males are an olive green or sandy colour, often with two dark stripes on their back. In April, males prepare to breed and develop spots and a crest along their back and tail.

Male smooth newt during the breeding season
© John Baker

Smooth Newts look very similar to Palmate Newts and they can be mistaken for one another. However, Smooth Newts are slightly bigger and because they are much more common in Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes they are more likely to be seen.

Smooth Newts hibernate in damp habitats including gardens, woods and field edges. They emerge in February or March when the weather is warmer and head for ponds, lake margins and ditches where they will breed and the females will lay their eggs. They leave the water in July and spend the rest of the year on land.

Like frogs, juvenile newts are called tadpoles. They are very similar but unlike frog tadpoles, newt tadpoles have feathery gills just behind the head.

Adult Smooth Newts feed on insects, worms and slugs when they are on land and shrimps, water lice, water snails and frog tadpoles when they are in the water.

For more information call 01296 696012 or email erc@buckscc.gov.uk

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