Toad

Photo by Gillian Barnes

One of the best places to look for toads is in your garden - they love to hide in old plant pots, drains, under rocks or old logs. If you have a pond, even better!

They can be very helpful in your garden as they often eat slugs, snails and other invertebrates.

Toads are usually solitary but may congregate in large numbers to compete for mating partners. At breeding time, around February, they return to the pond where they were born but leave again as soon as they have mated and spawned. Toads produce long strings of eggs, easily distinguished from the piles of frog spawn.

Toad tadpoles have an effective defence mechanism against predators - they contain a toxin that makes them taste unpleasant. This toxin remains in the toad's skin for the rest of its life.

Toads tend to crawl rather than jump, are more heavily built than frogs, and their darker and duller skin is covered in large warts.

Toad numbers have fallen in recent years. If you want to create a safe home for them, then keep your garden free of chemicals, and provide shelter in a cool spot where they can hide and hibernate

Length 8 - 13 cm

Weight upto 80 g

Average lifespan up to 4 years .

Toads along with much of our wildlife are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside act 1981 and as a priority species under the UK Post - 2010 Biodiversity framework.

Typical toad spawn 'ribbons' 
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia