Great crested newts are protected under European law and to develop a site where they occur requires a licence from Natural England. If your site contains waterbodies or is within 500m of any waterbodies there may potentially be great crested newts on the site. Surveying for great crested newts is limited to a short period between mid-March to mid-June, with at least half of survey visits needing to occur between mid-April and mid-May. As normally a licence to develop a site cannot be obtained without survey results and licence applications often take at least 6 weeks to process it is advisable to sort any potential great crested newt issues out at an early stage.
A great crested newt survey can assess likely absence or presence of great crested newts and if present can estimate population size. Generally, a population size class assessment is required, this involves 6 survey visits and includes an estimate of population size. A population size class assessment is essential if development of a site is proposed. Without this information it is not usually possible to obtain a licence allowing development of a site. Our surveyors are experienced and have the necessary survey licences enabling them to use all the required survey techniques If a survey shows presence of great crested newts then they will need to be moved from the development area (translocated) before development can occur. This is carried out by trapping newts and moving them to a suitable retained habitat area away from the development area. Trapping involves a minimum of 30, 60 or 90 suitable trapping days depending on population size. Trapping can only be carried out during suitable weather conditions in spring, summer and autumn.
Green Shoots Ecology can obtain the necessary licences to allow development as well as carrying out any trapping and translocations required to clear the site of great crested newts. During the main newt survey season (March – June) it is advisable to contact us early as we are usually very busy at this time.