a season of newts

Hi, I’ve pulled together a bunch of clips of wild smooth newts (Lissotriton Vulgaris) in action. They track a wild newt colony over this season’s cycle, April to September 2017 (South London, UK). In supporting and encoraging them I’ve tried to create as much ’natural habitat’ as possible over the years, adding compost heaps, rock piles, stone piles, wood piles and a hibernacullum, as well as deep and diverse emergence zones. I do oxygenate and I’ve kept both ponds weedy with a range of different aquatic plants whilst just clearing a small area to help with the filming. I built a mud shelf and have experimented feeding them bloodworm and dafnia in different ways to keep them at the surface for videoing. At the start of september, all the newts have now left the water to hunt and hibernate. The majority of efts have also left, those that don’t leave within the next few weeks will over-winter. Do let me know what you think and which clips you enjoyed? Needless to say please excuse some of the editing/vid qualit