Amphibious

Down at Denso Marston nature reserve they have a number of habitat boards which, if carefully lifted, may reveal some wildlife. We didn't encounter any mice or voles today, but it was a good day for amphibians, with frogs, toads and a newt revealed under various boards.

We'd lifted this one, and spotted the Common Toad straight away. Then 12yo noticed the newt, which was even more carefully camouflaged. It's not the greatest picture, and I didn't want to handle the newt to find more identifying features, but the warty skin and the pale dorsal line are perhaps indicative of a Great Crested Newt?

On the way down, we'd had a nice encounter with a Holly Blue, which on another day would have been my blip, but today just made it to status of tweet.