Great excitement today. Not only is there a large mass of frogspawn in the pond that I completed at the end of June last year, there are also newts! I was told that the latter would find their way to the pond, but I still find it surprising that it has happened and wonder how they know where to come or, indeed, how they get there seeing as there is no nearby waterway.
I understand that tadpoles provide tasty morsels to many pond-dwellers, including newts, and that few develop into frogs, but hopefully enough will do so to keep on top of the local slug population and keep them from decimating my vegetable crops.