Great Crested newts at Tattershall Castle

Box filled of little Great Crested Newts

Since the 1940s, populations of northern crested newts have declined in most of Europe due to loss of habitat. Today this is a European Protected Species, only discovered at Tattershall in 2003, this population is possibly the largest in Lincolnshire if not the East Midlands.

These newts have dark grey-brown backs and flanks, and are covered with darker-coloured spots so they appear almost black. Their undersides are either yellow- or orange-coloured and are covered in large, black blotches, which have a unique pattern in each individual.