THERE is much to be said for the newt.
It may be stretching things too far to say it has medicinal properties, but its eye, along with toe of frog, wool of bat, tongue of frog and other assorted delicacies, was an ingredient much coveted by the witches in Macbeth.
It has been an object of desire for former London Mayor Ken Livingstone and the equally eccentric Wodehousian character, Bertie Wooster's fish-faced friend Gussie Fink-Nottle. Indeed, in Right Ho, Jeeves, Bertie recalls that Fink-Nottle was obsessed with the creatures as a boy, adding: "Arrived at man's estate ... he used to tell himself that he could take them or leave them alone, and then found - too late - that he couldn't."
This passion is shared by 12-year-old Callum Ullman-Smith, but he has scaled heights that must surely be the envy of his fellow enthusiasts. He has been invited to address the Amphibian And Reptile Conservation Symposium in Edinburgh on his discovery of a colony of freshwater palmate newts that were breeding in salt water pools.
The dedication of a naturalist of such tender years is to be admired. We can be sure the newt's tale will not be his last.
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