Habitats.

Part two the garden pond.

Garden ponds have become life savers for Britain's frogs,newts and toads in the past thirty years. This is because so many of farm and village ponds have been filled in or polluted. Garden ponds will also benefit gardeners because the amphibians they attract will eat slugs, snails and insects. Ponds will attract bathing birds like blackbirds, which in turn may feed on tadpoles. Grass snakes may also be seen in the pond. Foxes may also be seen drinking from our garden ponds. If a pond has smooth sides then hedgehogs may fall into them but can`t climb out, this may cause them to drown. But by putting a little bit of wire mesh, hanging in the water on one corner will enable them to escape. Whether the pond is made from an old bucket or sink it will soon colonised by insects such as pond skater or lesser water boatman. May, damsel and dragon flies will also be seen flying over the pond hoping to catch flies. A few jars of natural pond water tipped into the pond will add plankton, water snails and even water beetles. Frogs and toad will eventually come across the pond, toads generally prefer deeper water to toads, so depending on the size of the pond it will determine whether you will attract toads or frogs. The frogs or toads will leave the pond,  after about two or three years they will will return to the same pond to breed. Newts to will find their own way to the pond. Long grass by the ponds edge will provide cover for the froglets when they leave the pond in June or July. Tadpoles normally prefer to be in a shallow area of the pond where it will be warmer. The resident fish will eat the tadpoles, sometimes quite a few will be taken by fish.  A rockery is a good idea for frogs and toads to hide in during the day. If there is plenty of undergrowth bank voles or wood mice may move in.

The bufonidae family (toads)

The common toad.

The common toad has a dry,warty skin and is generally brown, yellowish,greyish or olive green with dark brown spots on their skin. The common toad is an amphibian so it will always come back to the water to breed, but will quite happily live on land when not breeding.Toad migration starts in March or early April which can be a spectacular affair. What the toads are doing is leaving they hibernation places and head straight for their breeding pools. They will be in their hundreds, crossing roads on mass. Because of this many are killed in the process. Common toads like to spawn in fairly deep water and are more particular where they spawn compared to common frogs. Male toads will start to croak to attract females, he will then clasp her tightly from behind and fertilise her spawn as she lays it. The females lays her eggs in long stringy lines, usually about seven to ten feet long that will be wrapped around various water plants. The eggs then develop into tadpoles and then young toads after about fourteen weeks. Their development depends on the weather in spring. Young toads then leave the pool in June or July, with about one in twenty surviving. Unlike common frogs, toads walk whereas frogs leap to get about. Male toads are ready to breed after three years with female being ready after four years. Male toads heavily out number females at breeding time. Toads like to eat live prey, such as worms,insects and even small mammals which they will swallow whole. They will normally sit and wait for their prey to come into their range. They seize them by sticking out out their long sticky tongue which is rooted at the front of their mouth and can extend to about one inch.. The female will be up to four inches in total with the male being slightly smaller than the female. They are preyed on by grass snakes and hedgehogs which are immune to bufagin, this is the foul tasting substance which is ommitted in their skin so deterring most other predators. Toads mainly hunt at night and mainly in the wet. A toads pupils are circuler at night, they contract back to being a small slit in the day time. Their pupil is black and bordered by a yellow iris. Common toads hibernate from October to the middle of March, but this does variey depending on the part of Britain where they live. They may hibernate under logs or in dry stone walls near to their breeding pools. Gardens and parks are quite common places to fing toads. They leave the pools after spawning and spend most of the day under logs, emerging at night. Common toads may live up to about ten years in the wild.