The bufonidae family

Part two the natterjack toad.

The  name of the natterjack toad is probably derived from the anglo-saxon word naeddre, which meant a serpent or crawling creature. This is probably because toads crawl whereas frogs hop. The term jack probably refers to the toads small size. The natterjack is found only in sandy places like heaths, mainly in coastal dunes in East Anglia and north west England, I actually came across some around the prestatyn area of North Wales while i was on a family holiday. The natterjacks numbers are declining and are now protected by law. Natterjack toads dig burrows in soft sand, and often shelter there together. They emerge at night, to hunt for insects such as sand fleas. They burrow deep into the sand using their forelimbs during winter and then emerge during spring. They spawn in april, but you can hear the males calling in the edge of the shallows to attract the females from March onwards. The ponds they spawn in have to have alight slope to enable them to get in and out of the pond. You can also hear the males calling out at night, this can be heard up to half a mile away because of a single vocal sack that amplifies the sound.Just like the common toad, their spawn is laid in a long stringy line, up to two meters in length. Their spawn will be in and around water plants. Their spawn has a single line of black eggs unlike common toads who lay their spawn in a line of double black eggs. Most of the natterjacks toad tadpoles die because their nursery ponds dry up before they become toadlets. Although natterjack toads have poisonous skins, crows and gulls have learned to eat them without eating their skin. They may live up to ten years in the wild. A yellow line down the middle of its back distinguishes the natterjack toad from the common toad. It is also slightly smaller and has a shinier, smoother skin than the common toad. Adults vary in colour from olive-green to yellowish- green. Their head and body measure up to two and a half inches. When threatened the natterjack toad adopts a defensive posture. It does this by arching its back towards an attacker so that the poison- secreting glands on its back are uppermost. They spend a lot of their time in and amongst reeds on the edge of the ponds, the natterjacks reaches maturity when they are about five years old.

Conservation.

Bring back the birds.

A garden bustling with bird life will be brought alive by song and flapping wings, and also give us a chance to see wild creatures at close hand. But many of our most familiar visitors are suffering serious decline.

What to look out for.

As well as house sparrows, whose numbers have dropped dramatically, other birds in decline include starlings, dunnocks,song thrushes, mistle thrushes, swifts, house martins, spotted flycatchers, willow warblers, bullfinches, tree sparrows and linnets.

Reasons for their decline.

Cats and non native grey squirrels are to take some  blame for falling populations of these birds, but the main reasons are man made. Patios, decking, drives and the general tidiness of our modern gardens eliminate the seed and insect food of many species. Birds like house sparrows, swifts, house martins and swallows are finding it harder to find nest sites because we are much better at maintaining our houses nowadays, whereas in the past they`d have nested under the eaves. We have also taken out a lot of hedgerows in our inner cities and filled in all of the nooks and crannies on the outside of our houses with p.v.c. Also some modern farming practices, pesticides, the lack of weed seeds and a change to planting times all play their part.

Tips to help.

Leave parts of your garden to go wild.

You don`t have let your garden get hopelessly overgrown, but areas of long grass are a great habitat for insects and nearly all small birds need insects during the breeding season to provide protein for their young.

Plant plenty of native species.

As they will provide seed foods for birds and attract insects. Annual plants that produce seeds in late summer are a good source of food in the autumn and delaying cutting back your perennials until the spring means the seed heads provide winter food. Berry-bearing trees are always good for attracting birds. Varieties of cotoneasters, pyracantha and rowans are popular for redwings, fieldfares and waxwings.

Give the birds a banquet.

With lots of feeders and a variety of food including seeds and energy rich foods like fat balls. Various birds will always come back to your garden so if you put feeders out you must always make sure you keep them topped up. Great tits, blue tits,long tailed tits, chaffinches, goldfinches, robins, blackbirds and starlings. Theses species doing well largely because of their success adopting  to garden feeders.

Provide a home to nest.

Many garden birds share a willingness to use nest boxes. But you can buy boxes that fit under your eaves to attract house- nesting species. Boxes with metal reinforcement around the opening can stop woodpeckers and squirrels from getting in to them as well.

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.

Nature walks.

Part one.

Many animals and quite a few birds make their home`s underground. So while you are out and about walking in various habitats, i am going to tell you what to look out for.

Badger sets - Look out for large holes (normally eight inches or more). Their will be quite a few holes spread out on a hill side, where established runs converge. Chewed up blue- bell bulbs in spring, excavated earth or nettles and elder trees are a few other signs of a badger earth as well.

Rabbit warrens- Their will be numerous burrows  (about four inches wide each) that will be made in disturbed barren ground. Look out for their droppings on high points, as this is the way they mark their territory.

A kingfisher hole- Kingfishers make a solitary hole in a river bank. They will mark the entrance  by bird droppings. Look out for the male during spring bringing fish to the female at the nest. He will normally bring fish to a over hanging branch by the nest and wait for the female to come and collect it. This will either be for his courtship display,or for the female to feed her chicks. Also look out for lots of droppings around the hole. You can tell by the way he has the fish in his beak whether he will be eating the fish or whether he will passing the fish to the female or to the chicks. The fish `s head will be facing outwards if he is going to give the fish to someone else or the fish`s tail will be facing outwards if he is going to eat the fish hgimself.

Water vole burrows- Although these little mammals are now extremely rare, there are programmes to re-introduce them back into the wild in Britain. They have declined dramatically over the last twenty years or so mainly down to the mink, who itself has established lots of territories around brooks,rivers and canals.
They make their small holes (about three inches wide ) in the river bank and they are linked by surface runs. Look out for grass that has been chewed down the stem or listen out for a plop as they enter the water.

The hylidae family.

Part one the European tree frog.

The tree frog is very small compared to the common frog, with the males being up to one and a half inches and the females may be up to two inches in size. The tree frogs are slender with long legs. They are found over most of main land Europe, but were introduced to Britain from Europe at the start of the last century. Their are colonies in the new forest and south east London.  Their dorsal (back) skin is smooth whereas their ventral (abdomen) skin is granular. Their skin colour can range from a light green to grey depending on their temperature, climate or even their mood. Their ventral skin colour is normally white. The tree frog has dark brown lateral stripe on their back that runs from their eyes to their groin. Females have a white throat and males have a golden brown throat with a large folded vocal sacs. They have a rounded face with a very recognisable ear drum, the tree frogs pupils are a shape of a horizontal ellipse. Like most frogs the hind legs are stronger and more powerful the their fore legs, enabling them to jump rapidly. The tree fogs also has suction pads on its toes enabling them to climb among trees and shrubs, it does this normally at night where it will catch insects. Marshland,reed beds, meadows, gardens and parks are their favoured habitats. If the weather is about to change and start to rain tree frogs will start to croak as the pressure changes( they are like barometers). They main food source is beetles,spiders,flies and small caterpillars. They hibernate from late October until March and will use a hiberaculum which will be under walls,rocks or even in cellars. Tree frogs re-produce in stagnant bodies of water, such as lakes,ponds or swamps. They will gather at these place after they come out of hibernation in March right up to June. The males will croak during the breeding season, they will normally start as they are approaching their pools. Unlike other frogs the tree frog may change his breeding ponds, sometimes they will have two breeding areas during the same breeding season. After a spring rainfall the males will call the females away from the vegetation they were in to the pond where the males are. After spawning the females will lay up to a thousand eggs in walnut sized clump. The tadpoles hatch after about ten to fourteen days. After about three months, the tadpoles will metamorphosise into frogs, this occurs between July and August. The tree frog may live up to fifteen years in the wild.

The ranidae family.

Part three the edible frog.

The edible frog is closely related to the marsh frog, and was introduced to Britain in the nineteenth century from the continent. The edible frog is slightly bigger than the common frog, and its bright green colouration which makes it very distinctive. The more common name for the this frog is the European frog or the common water frog. The edible frog gets its name from its legs being used as a food delicacy in France. There are a few scattered colonies in the south east of England and East Anglia. Female edible frogs are between five to nine centimeters with the male being between six and eleven centimeters in length. The complex of waterways and ponds around the Surrey area has made this species very successful with a growing population. The edible frog will spawn a  lot later than the common frog, normally you can hear the loud call of the male edible frog in May. Their tadpoles grow considerably larger than the common frogs tadpoles before the metamorphose stage. Because of this they may on occasion over-winter as tadpoles and metamorphosis the following spring. They differ from the marsh frog by having a smaller hind leg in proportion to its body, and a different sized meta-tarsal tubercle(this is the bulge found at the base of their smallest rear toe).

Bird terms part one.

Atrical.

This is the term for birds that are designed to stay in the nest . This is the reason why the chicks are hatched naked, so there is no need for thick downy cover.

Clutch

This is the term for when the female bird lays her eggs.

Branching

This is the term for when  fledgling birds leave their nest for the first time.

Feathers in pin.

This is the term when birds flight feathers start to come through.

Burrow diversity.

This is when animals and birds will share burrows.