It’s been a good year for newts in the wildlife haven around the Wichelstowe development, ecologists say.

And the ponds and boggy grassland dotted around the 320 hectare development have also proved a safe haven for amphibians like frogs and toads – together with the snakes for whom a toad makes a tasty treat.

In 2019, ecologist Rob Frith of Keystone Ecology took the Adver on a tour of the Wichelstowe site to show off the spaces that had been set aside specifically for wildlife.

The excitement then was over water voles, which had been caught on camera in the streams around the old canal.

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Rob Frith of Keystone Ecology in 2019 Picture: DAVE COX

Monitoring was also underway to check the populations of dormice and newts. Ecologists were using innovative technology to scan the newts’ patterned bellies which, like a fingerprint, are unique to each animal.

This year, the focus of monitoring work has been on the area’s great crested newts, a protected species by law. And the amphibious creatures have been doing well, Rob said.

Builders have created ponds and other boggy areas for the newts. Log piles, which are used by the newts as a hibernation spot during the winter months, have been created from wood left over from pollarding works.

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The log piles for newts, pictured in 2019 and, below, a view of the canal Picture: DAVE COX

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“Wichelstowe has the great crested newt, which is what this work is all about, and we also have the smooth newt. It doesn’t have the palmate newt, which you find in more acidic areas,” Rob said.

“We’ve got other amphibians. We have toads in abundance and frogs and a healthy grass snake population as a result of that.”

The year has been a topsy-turvy one, with a very hot summer followed storms in the autumn. Despite that, the amphibians around Wichelstowe seem to have been surviving well.

Rob said: “It’s been an odd year in terms of our climate, in terms of how dry it’s been.

“In the nature areas it’s got more consistency. The long grass creates a consistent climate and the invertebrates seem to have flourished in those areas.”

He suggested that people may have noticed nature more as a result of spending more time outdoors during the lockdown.

Looking ahead, Rob said there were plans to extend areas set aside for wildlife to the other side of the M4, with creatures ranging from badgers and otters to newts and snakes able to use culverts to cross under the motorway safely.