Straight out of the Jurassic period

NEWTS are not animals I see very often so when I met someone who said he had them in his garden pond I was keen to have a look.

He approached quietly and lifted a loose flap of plastic pond-liner. Underneath, rather disappointingly, were about a dozen frogs.

But his hand shot down among the frogs and came up with the real prize — a male newt in full breeding colours.