Reader John Hammill asks you to spot the Lissotriton vulgaris vulgaris, the only newt species remaining in Ireland (vulgaris is the subspecies).
This isn’t too hard, so I’ve put the reveal below the fold (click “read more”).
Did you spot it? I hope so. . .
And if you didn’t, here’s a video reveal:
I struggled with this one, even though it was supposed to be not too hard. My eleven year-old son wasn’t able to find it at all and finally gave up. I have to admit he was handicapped by not knowing what a newt was!
After looking up photos of this newt, I searched. I found something I thought might be it. It wasn’t — but there right close by was the real newt! Obvious once you see it, but not at all obvious when I was looking for it.
I found it!
At last, one I can get. Good one too!
“only newt species remaining”
Have some species gone extinct in Ireland in recent times?
To answer my own question: No. It does not appear Ireland ever had another newt species. At least the internet seems not to know of such.
Found it pretty quickly once I stopped looking for a shiny black newt. 🙂
Thanks, John. Nice vid–newt was much more sprightly than I’d have thought!