I’m sitting at the edge of the little pond in my garden, which is starting to show spring flowers, and there are buds appearing on our pear tree. I’m staring at the water, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of my newts.

I didn’t always know all about newts. One day I was having a walk in the countryside when I came across a giant log. I turned it over and underneath there were some strange, small, brown lizards. My mum told me they were newts, and that was the start of my love for amphibians and my obsession with nature. We dug a pond in our garden, and some common newts started living there. I was overjoyed! And when the female started sitting on a water plant in the pond, I knew she was laying eggs. Later on, I saw a small, lizard-looking thing with gills in the pond. My dad told me in an excited way that it was a a newt larva (eft). I loved them so much that every day I went outside to see them, in the sunshine or in the rain.

When it was nearly autumn, though, I wasn’t very happy because my dad explained that the newts were leaving to hibernate, but would come back next spring.

After they left, I decided to dedicate my life to amphibians. I researched everything about them and wrote my first animal fact book about them. Now it’s spring, I’m looking out for them again – and I just spotted a grown-up newt that I haven’t seen before. I can’t wait to see more, maybe even babies!
Bea, eight

Read today’s other YCD piece, by Robin, nine: ‘A spiky surprise for the whole family’