The Newts Return

Following the forest track which winds up from our house has been quite depressing recently as it takes us past the small quarry where, in removing rock for aggregate, the local estate filled in a small pond which was home to some palmate newts - see earlier blog post here. The digger driver did form some small pools just below where the old pond had been but they looked too shallow and small to offer a home to any of the newts which had survived, but then....

....we found that a few had survived. The pools are very bare, and the water is cloudy but they seem quite at home.

This is particularly happy news, not only for the newts but also because this walk, being the easiest to access from our house, is one we follow fairly frequently.