Last year I posted a few questions regarding newt Larvae and their feeding. I mentioned that I had found approx 50 newts in various stages of development in a pond that I was about to replace. I kept them in tanks and released them as they developed over a few months. A few retained their gills for too long into the colder weather so I kept them in a tank through the winter. The tank mainly contained rock, earth and plants (and shallow water) and all the small insects and the like which came with them. They survived ok and developed well, I let the last few free a week or so ago. My new pond now contains several adult newts along with a great many frogs and sixteen goldfish. I had hoped to keep the new pond free of all but fish and in fact dug a smaller pond just for the amphibians, they have populated that too but in much smaller numbers,however, some should now survive although I guess the attrition rate will be quite high in the fish pond. I am trying to decide wether my newts are Palmate or smooth - any identification tips would be welcome.

Kato

The first pic is a Palmate courtesy of my pond at home. the second is a smooth I found last weekend on a walk he was a whopper and I now understand why they sometimes get confused with GCN when seen through murky water. My experience is that smooths seem 'spottier' than palmates for the most part and Palmates seem to have a whiter throat which can be clearly seen.

Both males in breeding dress.