Image: Wagtail
Rocky the newt-hunting spaniel has been helping contractor Balfour Beatty on the Norwich Northern Distributor Road (NDR) construction job.
The 20km dual carriageway scheme will pass through three areas where the protected great crested newts have been found, and trapping has been underway since the newts came out of hibernation in the spring.
Rocky, with his handler, has been brought in to help carry out final checks before construction gets under way in the affected areas.
Image: Wagtail
According to Norfolk County Council, the spaniel “can cover in a few minutes an area that would otherwise take ecologists days to search by hand”.
On the NDR, the trapping has involved over 7km of amphibian fencing to steer the newts into bucket traps that are checked on daily by ecologists from Mott MacDonald, who hold a Natural England mitigation licence.
Anything caught is transferred into suitable habitat outside of the construction footprint, either on land already owned by Norfolk County Council, or through landowner agreement. These areas feature new and improved ponds and hibernacula (areas for hibernation), and will be further enhanced during the next winter season when the newts are hibernating.
So far over 350 great crested newts have been trapped and safely relocated away from the line of the road, plus 450 smooth newts, over 850 toads, 90 frogs and an assortment of reptiles and mammals.
Norwich NDR is currently the biggest local authority-promoted road scheme in the country. Balfour Beatty’s construction contract began on 4 January 2016, with contract completion scheduled for early 2018.
