Deaths caused by Cold snap

[Crackle]

All the baby newts in our small pond were killed over the cold snap, they were alright up until then.
It surprised me to find them still in the pond in December, and I had been keeping an eye on them. They still had their gills, it seems they can sometimes not mature in the first year but can in the following year. I have seen a similar thing happen with toad and frog tadpoles, although I am not aware of if they had survived the winter either.
I would have put them in the bigger pond where they probably would have survived the winter better 4 feet down. But the fish would have eaten them, they hoover up all the frog spawn and tadpoles that get laid in the big pond.

Mike

[Kalee20]

That's a shame, they are cute little creatures.

Wonder why they died? As they are cold-blooded, I would have thought that they just got more and more sluggish as temperature dropped and body metabolism slowed. Unless of course they froze solid, in which case ice crystals would rupture cell membranes.

[Crackle]

A couple of the dead newts gills had almost been absorbed.
I think that unfortunately the water probably froze too deep, it is only a small pond about 18 inches across and about 7 inches deep. It started of as part of a small waterfall / stream arrangement but the channel the water ran through cracked up. So I just left it for the wild life and pond insects.
I like to encourage the local wildlife, and it is amazing how much has populated our pond but in order for it to survive the fish would need to go, some of the fish have got too big anyway.

Mike

[Diabolical Artificer]

That's a shame Mike, newts and amphibian's need all the help they can get. I havn't seen a newt in years. I have a particular affection for frogs, toads and newts as there was a pond near us when I was a kid, an old ballast pond. You could hear the frogs calling in Spring a good distance away, there being thousands. Of coarse they filled it in and built a main sewer and later a road where it once was. I remember trying to save all the frogs and frogspawn the year after; they laid it puddles on the building site. They didn't stand a chance. there was no environmental assessment in them days.

I built a wildlife pond in our garden and made it deep, about 5 ft so frogs can over winter. I think yours was just not deep enough, just too cold. Are your newts smooth newts or great crested? If it were me I'd get rid of the fish, newts and frog's really do need our help, their numbers have plumetted.

Andy.

[Refugee]

We have toads in our garden.
They live in the footings of my glass topped lean to where veg seedlings are reared. There were two big toads last year helping me control the slugs.
They go away for a few weeks at this time of year to spawn but soon come back again.

[Crackle]

We have toads and frogs as well as the newts, but last year was the first time I had seen baby newts in the little pond.. They would probably have been OK if they had developed quicker. We normally see the newts hiding under stones and things. I once saw one wriggling and walking through the grass towards the pond, he jumped in and was promptly swallowed by one of the koi, but was soon spat out again and the newt made a fast bee line to the bottom of the pond.
Next door has a pond and they dont have large fish so I think they mostly breed in there.

Mike

[BusyBee]

We occasionally have come across them around the garden. I have not seen any recently, but it hs not been too bad here so if there are they should be Ok.

[feathercurls]

I have a particular affection for frogs, toads and newts as there was a pond near us when I was a kid

Me too, I used to be fascinated by pond life and kept fish, tadpoles, newts and many others.

I had heard that sometimes when tadpoles overwinter in the pond they just keep growing, and become giant tadpoles instead of frogs. I really wanted to see this, for some reason the giant tadpole had become the Holy Grail of pond life for me. I never did find one.

[Crackle]

A few years back we had tadpoles in the same little pond which did not develop, they did get bigger, possibly about 8 maybe 10 mm across the body. At the time I didn't pay any attention to what finally happened to them. We moved the frog spawn, and also toad spawn on another occasion, from the edges of the big pond to the little pond because the fish eat it all up.
It would be good if we could get rid of the fish in our pond, but nowhere seems to want to take them. I would rather encourage and see the natural wild life.
Only in the last year have I been aware of news laying in the little pond. Their spawn is individual eggs and hard to see. I had put some curly leafed pond weed in the little pond, hoping it would encourage the newts. At the same time I also put the same weed in the big pond but the fish ate it all.

Mike

[Terry]

It would be good if we could get rid of the fish in our pond, but nowhere seems to want to take them.

Mike, have you tried Hanningfield Reservoir? There must be wildlife there, surely? (I wouldn't like to think that I'd been drinking stagnant water for over 70 years!)

There are quite a few 'lakes' - mainly old quarries - around. What about Lakeside? [1]  

Fairlop Waters, near where I used to live, is another possibility. I'm sure this community group will be able to help.

[1] Large out-of-town shopping centre near the northern end of the Dartford Crossing. Obviously, there is a lake there!