WE have all watched tadpoles developing from frogspawn. Toads lay their eggs, not in a pile of jelly like frogs, but in long strings.

Newts, however, have a very different reproductive strategy. The male common newt has a very complicated courtship routine and the female lays each egg singly, sticking them to stones or vegetation.

They then develop during the summer and eventually both young newts and adults hide in mud and damp vegetation; they will hibernate in such areas.

This accounts for several readers asking why all their newts seem to have disappeared. Next spring they will emerge and courtship will begin again. At this time the breeding colours of male newts are bright tints of yellow and brown.