Wetland Opportunity Areas

Newt Conservation Partnership

Habitat Project Species Project Great Crested Newt Project

The Newt Conservation Partnership is a community benefit society formed through partnership between two charities: Freshwater Habitats Trust and Amphibian and Reptile Conservation. We create and restore high quality habitat for Great Crested Newts. We are funded via the NatureSpace Partnership District Licensing Scheme.

A Great Crested Newt - each has a unique pattern.

The Newt Conservation Partnership is the practical delivery partner for the NatureSpace District Licensing Scheme, which is approved by Natural England and operates in a growing number of local authorities. The scheme was developed by a consortium of conservation NGOs and Great Crested Newt experts to ensure Great Crested Newt conservation at a local and landscape scale.

Great Crested Newt District Licensing

Great Crested Newts have declined dramatically over the last 50 years and are protected by UK law. Because habitat loss is the biggest threat to the iconic species, developers are required to compensate for their proposed impacts by funding pond restoration and creation.

Our approach is to create and restore aquatic and terrestrial habitats in strategic locations away from development. Regulated by Natural England, the scheme stays ahead of development impacts by providing a bank of new ponds, ensuring development is not held up.

The NatureSpace District Licensing Scheme covers Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Milton Keynes, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Staffordshire, Surrey and West Sussex. We also provide habitat delivery as part of the Network Rail Organisational Licence across England.

Read our latest report
Pond surrounded by plants with blue sky.

- Pond created by the Newt Conservation Partnership at Bicester Garrison on the Buckinghamshire-Oxfordshire border.

How our work benefits newts and other wildlife

4

new ponds for every occupied pond lost to development

8/10

of our sites are colonised after 3+ years

Double

the occupancy rate of the average English pond

50%

of our ponds are classed as priority ponds

4

new ponds for every occupied pond lost to development

8/10

of our sites are colonised after 3+ years

Double

the occupancy rate of the average English pond

50%

of our ponds are classed as priority ponds

Working in partnership for better conservation outcomes

Working in partnership with a range of private, large estate, council, Ministry of Defence and other NGO landowners, we carefully choose our sites for pond creation and restoration where ponds have a clean water source, a high chance of population viability and are within range of an existing newt population to maximise the chance of natural colonisation. This results in better conservation outcomes as newt populations are strengthened and can expand across the countryside, rather than trying to retain populations with poor long term viability in urbanised, heavily managed environments.

The Newt Conservation Partnership funds all initial creation or restoration work. We then secure management agreements and provide annual payments to landowners to ensure newt habitat can be maintained for at least the next 25 years.

 

Annual monitoring

Our conservation work is evidence-led and based on an extensive monitoring programme, fully funded by the scheme.

We conduct annual compliance monitoring including Habitat Suitability Index scoring of aquatic and terrestrial habitat and eDNA sampling at all our ponds. We also annually select a sample of our sites to undertake repeat population assessment through torching, trapping and egg-searching and alongside wider benefits surveying that looks specifically at invertebrates and plants. The data collected helps us to assess and report on the effectiveness of our Great Crested Newt conservation work and its impact on biodiversity at both site and landscape scale.

Photo of three people from the NCP team, facing into a pond on a night survey.

Working together with our expert partners at Freshwater Habitats Trust and Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, we look to understand more fully the importance of pond creation within the Freshwater Network and for the success of amphibians and other wildlife.

Securing great habitat for Great Crested Newts

New ponds need to have an unpolluted water source. They should also be likely to remain fish-free in the long term and undisturbed by dogs or wildfowl. It is important that the habitat around ponds is suitable for newts because they spend most of their time on land and only return to ponds for breeding in the spring.

We look for land that has enough space to create at least two newt breeding ponds. We also restore ‘lost’ ponds to make them better for newts, for example by managing trees, removing fish or re-profiling margins. Good terrestrial habitat includes woodland, scrub or rough grassland. An established hedge network is also important to allow newts to move about the landscape.

The Newt Conservation Partnership can fund the creation of these habitats and their management long term as part of the scheme.

Aerial view of digger next to large area of bare ground to create a pond.

- Newt Conservation Partnership pond creation in action

See some of the high quality habitat created by the Newt Conservation Partnership

Pond surrounded by plants with blue sky.

Pond created by the Newt Conservation Partnership as part of an award-winning habitat restoration scheme at Bicester Garrison

An orange digger digging a pond, digger track marks surround it.

Pond creation in progress at Boothby Wildland in February 2023. We like to keep digger track marks – see foreground – in and around our ponds as this creates microhabitats for all sorts of wildlife. We leave the finishing to weathering by rain, wind and frost, so our ponds eventually have a more natural look.

Four new clean water ponds at Boothby Wildland in an ex-arable field adjacent to mature woodland. Great crested newts were recorded in two of these ponds less than a year after creation.

Four new clean water ponds at Boothby Wildland in an ex-arable field adjacent to mature woodland. Great Crested Newts were recorded in two of these ponds less than a year after creation.

One of eight clean water ponds at one of the NCP compensation sites around Yardley Chase SSSI. The site already supports a new breeding population of great crested newt and also red pondweed, a Vulnerable plant species in England.

One of eight clean water ponds at one of the NCP compensation sites around Yardley Chase SSSI. The site already supports a new breeding population of great crested newt and also red pondweed, a Vulnerable plant species in England.

One of the four ponds created by NCP in 2020. These ponds already support breeding populations of great crested newt and common toad, both priority species.

One of the four ponds created by the Newt Conservation Partnership in 2020. These ponds already support breeding populations of great crested newt and Common Toad, both priority species.

A frog supervising the creation of a new clean water pond in a woodland SSSI in Hampshire.

A frog supervising the creation of a new clean water pond in a woodland SSSI in Hampshire.