Common Name        Great Crested Newt

Latin Name               Tritusus cristatus

Other names             Warty Newt & GCN

Great Crested newts are a medium sized newt, which can be found across much of mainland Britain.

The Great Crested Newt is the largest of the British newts and, in the breeding season adult males are recognisable by their jagged crest and silvery-blue and almost fluorescent stripe down the centre of the tail.

Both sexes have a dark brown warty body and yellowish-orange belly with black blotches.

The Great Crested Newt is widespread in Europe but is threatened and in decline throughout much of its range.

Britain has probably Europe's largest population and is, therefore, very important to the continuing survival of the Great Crested Newt.

These Newts need water-bodies such as ponds for breeding but, for most of the year, they live on dry land.

Typical breeding sites contain a number of medium to large ponds that have some areas of clear, base-rich water, deeper than 30 cm and with few fish predators.

Such ponds are usually surrounded by terrestrial habitat with plentiful ground cover (e.g. scrub, trees, long grass) with moist refuges in which newts spend the daytime (e.g. log piles, rocks or other debris).

Although the Great Crested Newt does not favour garden ponds, as these are often small and offer far from ideal habitats they are recorded in larger garden pond where they are known to breed.

The species has been in decline for a number of years with Great Crested Newts becoming increasingly rare or absent in some areas.

The Great Crested Newt is fully protected under UK and European Law due to its decline and vulnerability due to loss of habitat and breeding ponds.

Due to licensing issues only suitably Qualified and Experienced persons who are licenced by the Likes of Natural England, Scottish Natural Heritage and CCW are permitted to survey and disturb them.

The Great Crested Newt is a European Protected Species by virtue of being listed under Annex IVa to the EU Habitats and Species Directive 1992. It is protected under UK law by the Conservation (Natural Habitats &c.) Regulations, which translates the Habitats Directive into UK legislation, and also under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended).

It is also a UK BAP Priority Species.

Work within 500m of Great Crested Newt terrestrial habitat and breeding ponds requires a DEFRA development licence to be obtained prior to the commencement of works.

A requirement of such a licence is that sufficient GCN presence/absence surveys and surveys to determine the populations of the GCN’s in the area have been completed.

It is usual for such a DEFRA licence to include mitigation, habitat enhancements along with protective exclusion fencing.

These measures normally satisfy PPS9 and all planning conditions.