The Dance of the Great Crested Newts -studio shot

2023
Mokuhanga prints – each one unique
60 x 45 cm

In a recent Guardian article Boris Johnson describes Great Crested Newts as a drag on the British Economy

https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/10/is-boris-johnson-right-to-blame-newts-for-slowing-britains-recovery-aoe

and because he hates them, I love them all the more. Great Crested Newts are a protected species in UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act and are Listed as a European Protected Species . They were once abundant in Black Country and a population is still holding on there.
As a child I remember seeing them regularly in seemingly any small body of water , even in tiny puddles and pools amongst industrial ruins. There is a conservation effort going on the area with new habits made , but the species is still in decline. In this drawing I’ve wrapped their eggs in leaves for protection.
At the Fens Pool Nature Reserve in Pensnett a large metal sculpture of a great crested newt made by sculptor Luke Perry , as a symbol of the importance of this species. I remember in the early 80,s talk of developers trying to claim this land , but because the Great Crested Newt lives there the site has now been made into a protected nature reserve. The growth and ‘progress’ driven politicians are intent on scrapping the EU environmental protection laws , and almost guaranteed the Great Crested Newt will come under attack as one of the biggest obstacles in their quest for ‘growth ‘ which is in effect a pseudonym for the pillage of the land that the early industrialists set in motion . The presence of the Great Crested Newt should be celebrated and every time I walk past a puddle in the Black Country I say a quiet prayer for them.