Smooth newt

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What to look for:
This is a medium-sized newt and is the most likely one to be seen away from water. It has a pale body with a large degree of variation both in size and in colour, with its upper parts ranging from olive to a yellowy brown. Its underparts range from red to yellow, on which breeding males have large blotches.  Breeding males have a continuous crest along the spine and down the tail.

When to see it
An animal active throughout the spring and summer, it hibernates between March and September. Active at night when it is found hunting through ground vegetation and leaf litter.

Where to see it
Widely distributed throughout the mainland of Scotland, where it tends to be a low altitude species. It is found resting in a wide range of damp habitats along stonewalls, in woodland and even in gardens. It breeds in shallow weedy ponds where each fertile egg is carefully stuck under a leaf and then folded.

Things to think about
Strangely amongst amphibians where males are usually smaller than the egg-laying females, smooth newt males are, on average, larger than females.