In February 2020 NatureSpace Partnership (NSP) and the Newt Conservation Partnership attended the annual Herpetofauna Workers Meeting, organised by the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust (ARC) and Amphibian and Reptile Groups UK (ARG UK) which was held this year in Southport.
Attending this event marked the third year of the NSP District Licence scheme being in operation across the South Midlands region, and was an opportunity to share our vision of District Licensing with practitioners, policy makers and volunteers from the herpetological world.
The event provided the perfect opportunity to launch the publication of the first Newt Conservation Partnership summary report which provides a roundup of compensation delivery so far and an update on the first year of monitoring from 2019 under the NSP District Licensing (DL) scheme.
We have currently:
- Created 57 ponds and restored 8 clean water ponds across 26 sites
- Provided evidence through our monitoring programme that great crested newt have colonised 42% of our sites
- Brought just under 300 ha of terrestrial habitat into use for great crested newts, by creating ponds in area where there we none before, and within dispersal distance of existing populations
- Created ponds with HSI scores reaching or exceeding the target of 0.7 (good quality and above)
Results from our monitoring programme provide a baseline to track great crested newt colonisation of compensation sites and report on net gain, as well as useful feedback so we can continue to improve our technical work and maximise the benefits of habitat creation and management for great crested newt.
To read more on this click here
If you would like to request a copy of our 2020 summary report or Implementation Strategy, please contact the Newt Partnership.
