Torching for Newts (dark-mountain.net)

What an enjoyable read. I am just going through the process of a house purchase in the UK now (in rural Berkshire), and the presence of "Newt Control Officers" in any council planning permission documents did make me laugh, so this article was well timed :)

Two years ago I built a pond, because I have a garden and I had a pond as a kid.

Within 3 months we had newts! then came the dragonflies. I also had a whole host of frogs and other invertebrates.

Gussie Fink-Nottle smiles.

And then a neighbor call the police after seeing a shadow doing something highly suspicious activity that probably involve a corpse in the lakeside at night. So torching newts turns into being torched by two policemen. True history.