Good ‘newts’ comes from the Plemstall area of Mickle Trafford with confirmed reports of rare great crested newts.

The protected species has been found on land behind Cedars Close farmed by the Rowlands family who run The Grange Farm off Warrington Road.

Their farm has been in Natural England’s Higher Level Stewardship Scheme for the last 10 years because the whole operation is run in an environmentally-friendly way.

Farmer Huw Rowlands, whose herd of rare breed Red Poll cattle produces high quality beef sold in the farm shop, said: “I am delighted by this find, and it shows that farming and wildlife can go hand in hand.”

Farmer Huw Rowlands

Cheshire Wildlife Trust’s Ben Gregory said “We’ve been working with landowners such as the Rowlands in the River Gowy corridor for a number of years now and it’s always great to hear good news stories like this one. Great Crested Newts are our largest native newt species and get their name from the long jagged crest found on the back of the males which develops during the breeding season.

“Great crested newts are a good indicator of the health of a pond and tend to only be found in fairly undisturbed ponds with lots of weeds and no fish. Leading up to breeding the newts come up to the pond margins at night time where the males do their courtship display."

A problem faced by newts is that dogs in ponds have the potential to make them more turbid and the biggest impact is the risk of dogs dislodging newt eggs from the aquatic vegetation that they lay on.

A great crested newt

Newts take a leaf such as water forget-me-not (a favourite) and the female individually lays a single egg on a leaf then folds it over with her back legs to form a parcel – dogs in ponds could quite easily open up these leaf folds making the eggs vulnerable to predation from moorhens, and exposure to Ultra Violet light damage.

Dog walkers using public footpaths in the vicinity are asked to keep their pets on leads and keep strictly to the marked footpath to give great crested newts a better chance of breeding. Great crested newts are extremely rare throughout the Britain, and are threatened by an invasive fungus which devour their skin, and which has led to the collapse of populations of salamanders and newts in mainland Europe.

Anyone who finds a dead or injured amphibian – newt, frog or toad – is asked to report their find online by visiting this website . Photographs are especially useful.