I passed through Chasewater yesterday, and looked at the newt trap fencing again. How it works is quite clever; there are yards and yards of shiny, impervious plastic fence, about 18 inches high, with the bottom edge buried in the ground. Periodically, plastic buckets or tubs are buried along it’s length. Migrating amphibians come to the fence, then traverse it’s length, looking for a way through… then plop, into the bucket, to be rescued by skilled newt relocation technicians. Genius!

Amphibian collection apparatus. Sorry about the funny angle.

A quote from Chasewater Wildlife Group’s diary from 17th September 2009 records…

‘A Common Lizard was caught on the dam along with several Smooth Newts and Toads.’