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We always knew we had newts in our pond, as we had often seen them rising to the surface, but in May 2019 we were required to prove it as part of a "newt survey" in connection with a new housing development. A local ecologist thus arrived and set humane traps in the shallows - simply plastic bottles with the top section reversed into the bottom so the newts could enter but not easily leave.
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A water sample indicated the presence of Great Crested Newt DNA but the traps only caught one, a juvenile (as here)
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This was no great surprise though as we had found "GCNs" hibernating in our garage (!) on a number of occasions. Although one is not supposed to handle them without a licence, we felt we had no option but to do so to ensure they were safely returned to damper conditions. The one showing its classic orange belly is not dead, by the way, merely still in torpor from its hibernation
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Our main newt population is made up of smooth newts, however. The male (seen here) is darker than the female, with a black-spotted body, and develops a wavy serrated crest down its back in the mating season - which is the usual time to see newts in ponds as they are semi-aquatic rather than living their whole life in water
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Females are more olive-brown in colour and lack the black spots of the males, often having irregular lines down their back instead, and of course they do not sport a crest in the breeding season. After mating, eggs are laid singly, folded into underwater leaves
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I don't think this one was trying to catch that fly, although it does look like it!
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A probably egg-bearing female scooting across the pond - they can move surprisingly fast!
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And finally, a pair of females - almost!
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