Smooth Newt rescue

Feebo · 10-19-10, 03:08 AM

Have a look at this cute little thing! He had a VERY lucky escape. I was moving my greenhouse with the help (All the lifting and shoveling lol ) of a very good friend. I was, as usual saving all the worms and relocating them. Got to be done. I`m sooo glad I do that because I spotted a Smooth Newt rightnext to and almost under my foot! I thought I`d already trodden on him but thankfully he was ok

I took a few photos, and relocated him into a Habenacular I`ve been making recently.....

It`s just a little baby one. Really cute eh!

presspirate · 10-19-10, 03:24 AM

Nice save Feebo, he's a cute little guy. What the heck is a habenacular?

Feebo · 10-19-10, 04:34 AM

A cool word for a pile of rotting wood.

Basically a habitat for amphibians and inverts and the like. I`m busy making them where ever I can in the garden. We`ve already got frogs all over the place, I found a huge toad the other day that puffed up like a balloon and made me laugh and now this newt! Eventually I`m hoping for some reptiles too. Once it`s established I would have thought the slowworms (legless lizard) will be first, then grass snakes if I`m VERY lucky. I`ll have a nice wildlife pond and boggy area by this time next year too. I try to encourage everything I can in my garden, wildlife is just fastinating and it`s lovely to know it has a home in my home

I saw a family of hedhogs a while back in the front garden, (this made me laugh too) I had no idea they could run! lol Both mother and babies lifted up on long legs I didn`t know they had and SPRINTED across my garden while I stood there belly laughing lol

infernalis · 10-19-10, 06:23 AM

Sort of like a compost heap??

Nice save!!

Feebo · 10-19-10, 09:00 AM

Mmmmmnot really.... It`s got cave like resesses under branches and those are suitable for things as large as hedgehogs but then it has bark on the floor aswell, suitable for sloworms, newts and all manner of insects and larvea. It`s really just a pile of branches and bark, in the shade and kept damp. Invert, insect and small mammal heaven.

infernalis · 10-19-10, 09:09 AM

Ah OK.

Us yanks would call that a brush pile.

Lankyrob · 10-19-10, 10:07 AM

Leave a nice slightly rotting pile of grass cuttings and leaves outside toward spring and by the end of summer should have a slowworm nest with loads of babies - we get them nearly every year.

shaunyboy · 10-19-10, 10:56 AM

for years ive been telling my wife i like to have an organic natural garden for all the wildlife to take refuge in

she says im just too lazy to clean up the garden

now i can show her this thread and proove im not lazy,haha

good save feeb's its been years since ive went newt hunting up the forest near mines.it used to have a lot back when i was 12 years old.

the olden days as my kids put it

cheers shaun

Feebo · 10-19-10, 12:39 PM

Oh man, I`m glad I don`t have kids, they`d make me feel old! lol

Brush pile, gotcha... Habinacular sounds like a little bone in your ear or something doesn`t it lol

presspirate · 10-20-10, 03:46 AM

I was thinking it was something like a stumpery from your description....Create a Stumpery in Your Landscape - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com

infernalis · 10-20-10, 06:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Feebo

Oh man, I`m glad I don`t have kids, they`d make me feel old!

Honestly mate, Kids make you feel more alive than anything else.

I had my first at the ripe old age of 18 and (hopefully) the last at age 35.

One way to look at it is this...

if you are all alone at a park doing silly antics, people will think your mental.

if you take children to the park and do silly antics you are just being a good parent.

Feebo · 10-20-10, 12:06 PM

Aaaah I can`t do anything fun anymore anyway... Nope, no kids for me. I always thought I`d probably have them at some point but no, it just wasn`t to be..... I`ve got my pets lol They`ll never embarress me in the supermarket

infernalis · 10-20-10, 03:38 PM

Oh so sorry if I may have touched on a sore issue.