Environment Agency ecologists are to relocate a rare and protected population of Great Crested Newts just waking up from their winter hibernation so that a flood bank can be repaired.
The bank, along Ea Beck near Bentley, Doncaster, is in a bad condition and needs rebuilding. It provides protection from flooding to the people of Toll Bar, an area badly affected by the 2007 floods, and is part of a £2.6m investment in improvements to alleviate flooding from the beck.
The Environment Agency’s biodiversity officers have arranged for the newts to be relocated to adjacent land to allow the work to take place.
The construction work to protect nearly 1,500 houses from Adwick le Street to Bentley is in four parts. Some work was carried out last year in the Duck Holt area but had to be suspended for the winter and newt hibernation season. Work will re-start on this site later this month with construction of the other three parts scheduled to start in August.
Biodiversity officer Andrew Virtue explains: “The newts breed in ponds between April and June but outside of this period they live on land, hiding under stones or dense vegetation. One side of the flood embankment at Ea Beck was right next to a significant breeding pond and the embankment was so overgrown that it had become ideal newt habitat. Because of their protected status, we had to clear this area of newts before any work could begin.
“It’s important that this population is maintained intact because surveys have shown it to be a large one. The ponds at Ea Beck form part of an important corridor for newts between the A19 and another very large population at Thorpe Marsh Nature Reserve.
“The adjacent land is a Nature Reserve so the newts will be safe there. Once we have moved all of the newts work can take place to reconstruct the flood bank, giving peace of mind to local people.”
Great Crested Newts are a protected species. Around 80% of the world population is believed to be in Britain, but populations are fragmented and often isolated, leaving the species vulnerable to the impact of development. The creatures are so rare that a special license is needed to handle or move them.
Reinforced polythene fencing has been erected around the perimeter of the embankment and buckets have been sunk into the ground in order to catch the newts within. The buckets are checked daily and any newts that are found are safely relocated to the pond and surrounding habitat, just a few metres away.
The operation to re-home the newts will take around two months, after which work on the flood bank will start. It can only take place now as the newts have been hibernating and only start to become active in March or April.
Post a comment