Dewsbury Newt Trap

About this product

Please note: We only sell these traps to professional ecologists and conservation NGOs; if you do not fit into either of these categories then we will need to see a current licence for the use of a Dewsbury Newt Trap. We recommend that you contact your national licensing authority (Natural England, Natural Resources Wales, Scottish Natural Heritage, etc) before you purchase this trap. The Dewsbury Newt Trap is not included within either the Level 1 or Level 2 Natural England Class Survey Licence and a separate licence is required.

The Dewsbury Newt Trap is an innovative design of refuge trap for use in newt survey projects as well as translocation work. The design of the trap provides access to fresh air at the top of the trap and a thermally stable refuge at the bottom of the pond. Consequently, the trap has proven to be completely safe for newts – early trials delivered 801 live newts and 0 dead or injured newts.

Deployed from the side of the pond the Dewsbury trap is also safe and convenient for surveyors, minimises disturbance to ponds and marginal vegetation, does not require night visits (traps can be left unattended for a maximum of 24 hours), and takes just a few minutes to deploy. In preliminary trials the Dewsbury trap was found to be more effective at catching newts than traditional bottle trapping methods – where newts were present in a pond the average catch was 12 newts per trap deployed, the maximum catch recorded in a trap was 56.

For more information about newt survey, take a look at our on the subject.