In Chorleywood we take our newts seriously.
All the ponds are surveyed and monitored regularly and the Parish Council reports to Natural England, Herts Environmental Records Centre and other interested parties as part of the obligations of the Ranger’s newt licence which is available for inspection in the Office.
Now newts get a bit of a bad press round these parts as they are often accused of blocking progress to local projects.
Trouble is the world is full of stories, films etc with heroic dogs, sheepdog pigs, Michelin star rats, cute elephants but nothing about newts.
We have sayings like `Brave as a lion` or `Mutton dressed like lamb` but … `Pissed as a newt’, incidentally that comes from the wee things mating ritual which involves staggering around as if drunk in an effort to attract the opposite sex. So, no different then to Freshers Week or a holiday in Magaluf.
More in hope than expectation I checked to see if Sir Isaac was a newt, no luck there, and the politician who was a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party was actually christened Newton by Mr & Mrs Gingrich.
And then, buried away on page 9 of the Parish Council minutes from July 2014 I finally found what I was looking for ` The Ranger came in one Monday morning to find a bridge had been built across the New Pond using large logs and brush. The tractor had to be used to clear the larger material`
The culprits were never found so in the style of `Bob The Builder’` I envisaged a gang of friendly newts who come out at night and help the local community by knocking up an extension here or a garden shed there.
Just think of the possibilities, The Green Street drainage sorted out overnight , a couple of fairways on the golf course knocked up over a weekend and a children’s play area…….
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