Country diary: Newt sex is more about chase than clinch | Mark Cocker

Cressbrook, Derbyshire: The pond I’m observing is a murky metropolis that doesn’t reveal itself quickly. When it does, I find common newts in full breeding modeI initially assumed that the depths near the centre of the pond were entirely sealed off from my air-breathing world above, with its relentless sunshine and skylark song. But no. I gradually realised that the life within was sensitive to the outside, and to me. The more inanimate I became, the more the underwater place reveale