Looked at a really super garden pond earlier today in Grafty Green. Absolutely stuffed full of great crested newt larvae (tadpoles), behaving perfectly - floating in water column and feeding on small water animals. This nektonic behaviour is one of the reasons why gcn do so badly in ponds supporting fish. The larvae get scoffed by the fish. Smooth and palmate newt larvae tend to hide amongst vegetation or on the bottom of ponds and can therefore better tolerate fish.


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