Heavy and unseasonal rainfall is bad news for anyone holding an summer fair or planning a barbecue - but it is good news for newts in Chorleywood.

The Great Crested Newt population is thriving on the common, thanks to ponds which are much fuller at the moment than in previous years.

The small amphibians spend the majority of their lives on land, but migrate to water in the spring in order to breed.

The parish council ranger, who keeps tabs on the newt population, has found eggs in all the ponds, including in Dew Pond, for the first time ever.

He has put the boost in newt population down to the ponds being fuller than usual due to heavy rainfall.