{"id":136102,"date":"2023-04-28T11:30:11","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T04:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/country-diary-witnessing-a-smooth-newt-in-attack-mode-claire-stares\/"},"modified":"2023-04-28T11:32:45","modified_gmt":"2023-04-28T04:32:45","slug":"country-diary-witnessing-a-smooth-newt-in-attack-mode-claire-stares","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/country-diary-witnessing-a-smooth-newt-in-attack-mode-claire-stares\/","title":{"rendered":"Country diary: Witnessing a smooth newt in attack mode | Claire Stares"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nLangstone, Hampshire: The newts have migrated back to their natal pond to breed, allowing me to study them up closeThe recently relined pond is looking barren. I\u2019ve replaced the rampant yellow flag irises and marsh marigolds with less invasive species of vegetation, but the immature plants are dotted like islands across an expanse of black butyl liner. Despite their propensity to migrate back to their natal pond, I was concerned that the smooth newts (Lissotriton vulgaris) would abandon this aquatic desert for a more verdant breeding site. Happily, they were undeterred. A few days after I refilled the pond, I spotted two males lazing in the shallows, and by the following evening, they\u2019d been joined by another male and two gravid (pregnant) females.Previously, any pockets of open water were blanketed in frogbit, the miniature waterlily-like leaves obscuring my view of life in the depths. The only indicators of the newts\u2019 presence were rising air bubbles or the occasional glimpse of a tail breaking the surface. They\u2019re still hiding in crevices or free-floating clumps of hornwort during the day, but now, as the light fades, they emerge into open water, which has allowed me to witness the males\u2019 captivating belly-flashing, tail-fanning courtship displays for the first time, and also to gain an insight into the species\u2019 feeding ecology. Continue reading…
\n
\nSource : theguardian.com
\nRead more…Country diary: Witnessing a smooth newt in attack mode | Claire Stares<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Langstone, Hampshire: The newts have migrated back to their natal pond to breed, allowing me...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-property-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p75ss1-zpc","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":135609,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/country-diary-the-irises-have-taken-over-the-pond-and-only-leeches-are-left-claire-stares\/","url_meta":{"origin":136102,"position":0},"title":"Country diary: The irises have taken over the pond, and only leeches are left | Claire Stares","date":"March 24, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"\r Langstone, Hampshire: The pond is almost devoid of life, apart from several of these greenish-grey segmented worms burrowed into the silt at the bottomMy wildlife pond has been leaking and, after several unsuccessful attempts at patching it up, the race was on to replace the liner before the smooth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51965,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/me-and-my-garden-i-want-to-live-on-the-first-road-to-have-a-hedgehog-box-in-every-garden\/","url_meta":{"origin":136102,"position":1},"title":"Me and my garden: \u2018I\u00a0want to live on the first road to have a\u00a0hedgehog box in every garden\u2019","date":"April 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\r Stuntman Wayne de Strete on why he loves nothing more than sitting by his garden pond in Brighton, watching and listening to the local wildlifeI try to channel my adrenaline to enhance my performance, which is physically very demanding. I mostly do live events rather than film work, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36922,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/the-house-builder-waging-war-on-britains-newts-hibernating-mice-and-nesting-birds\/","url_meta":{"origin":136102,"position":2},"title":"The house builder waging war on Britain\u2019s newts, hibernating mice, and nesting birds","date":"December 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\r \r \r Source : telegraph.co.uk\r Read more...The house builder waging war on Britain\u2019s newts, hibernating mice, and nesting birds","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3953,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/ask-alys-our-pond-suffers-from-blanket-weed-help\/","url_meta":{"origin":136102,"position":3},"title":"Ask Alys: our pond suffers from blanket weed. Help!","date":"February 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\r I\u2019d love to fill our pond with plants, but they\u2019d be consumed by the green peril Our pond suffers from blanket weed. I\u2019ve tried all sorts of treatment, from chemical nastiness to barley straw, but nothing seems to deal with it. I\u2019d love to fill our pond with plants,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":145552,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/britain-embraces-pond-life-as-aquatic-garden-plant-sales-boom\/","url_meta":{"origin":136102,"position":4},"title":"Britain embraces pond life as aquatic garden plant sales boom","date":"June 29, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"\r RHS reports 35% surge in orders, while garden designers note pond trend at Hampton Court Palace flower showA pond boom is happening in Britain\u2019s gardens as people try to halt wildlife loss by digging water sources for amphibians and other aquatic life.Data from the Royal Horticultural Society shows a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":127950,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/top-tips-for-keeping-your-pond-pristine\/","url_meta":{"origin":136102,"position":5},"title":"Top tips for keeping your pond pristine","date":"July 24, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"\r Without a little TLC these enviable water features can turn into algae soupTo my mind, there is no other garden feature that can provide as much joy as a pond, reflecting light, expanding the palette of plants that can be grown, providing enormous benefits to wildlife.Yet at this time\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136102"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136102\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}