Toad

A night as a Toad Patroller

February 27, 2023 by Chantel Carr

Here our Reserve Warden, Chantel, recounts her experience of helping out at her local toad patrol in 2022….

One of the toads Chantel rescued on the Sleaford Toad Patrol

In the subdued light I put on lots of layers and double-checked my torch was working. During these essential preparations, I felt like a weird superhero armed with my high vis jacket (or cape if you prefer) and bucket, excited to help the local wildlife.

In the twilight, the toad patrol team walked down the road hearing the coo of an owl and disturbing sleeping muntjac with their torches. I was eagerly awaiting the sight of a toad making its epic journey across the road, though that moment was more exciting than I initially had thought… I could hear a high pitched ‘quark’ and the fallen leaves began to rustle all around me. I shined my torch down onto the woodland floor to see dozens of golden eyes staring back at me, full of determination and crawling through the undergrowth. I turned around to see a toad still on the tarmac, when I picked up this delicate little soul, he clung onto my hand and did not want to let go.

Male toads were hitchhiking on the backs of the females and any male I picked up clung on ready for the hike. The anticipation of the evening did not let me down and from that night I was hooked. I am looking forward to the 2023 Toad Patrol season and being back with a passionate group of people on the Sleaford Toad Patrol.

Want to help out at your local Toad Patrol? Find your nearest one using our Toads on Roads map and get involved!

My first season running a Toad Patrol

February 27, 2023 by admin

Lorna Williamson (Patrol Manager of Milngavie Library & CE Centre Toad Patrol in East Dunbartonshire) writes about her first season running a Toad Patrol.

It was with a mixture of sadness and relief that I stashed away my toad road signs and head torch. My first official season as a Toad Patroller had been a busy one, with 382 lives saved over a 31-day period. It had started modestly: first came the toads on 12th March, followed by frogs two days later, until a melting-pot of amphibian-hopping-madness on 22nd March! Up to that point, I’d merely made the patrolling area official on the Froglife website, but the need to be omnipresent to cover everywhere at once spurred me into putting an urgent call out to a community action group I was loosely connected with. A few days later, we had our first volunteer! We met every night in the library car park for the next two and a half weeks, each with our own toad-gathering equipment, which on more than occasion for me was an old food-waste bin, deep enough to prevent jumping escapees! I was quite nervous on our first patrol that the main ‘spectacle’ might have passed for my eager helper, but finished the evening with 18 toads, two frogs, and one newt. I am aware that these are modest figures compared with busier patrols taking place on main roads.

During the five-week patrolling period, I found it practically impossible to stay in as the critical dusk hour approached – I was addicted! Hopefully other patrollers are familiar with the sensation of closing your eyes at night and being filled with images of yet more toads – all the little lives you’ve given a ‘hopping’ hand to! Once, when I looked out of my bedroom window late at night, ignoring the little voice in my head – “Don’t do it!” – I spotted the unmistakable movement of a toad ambling awkwardly over the road. Groaning, I threw on my waterproof trousers and coat to hide my pajamas and ran down the three flights of stairs in our block before reaching him, thankfully still unharmed, and minutes before a car appeared. I hadn’t got my tub, so prayed not to find any others in the 125 meters en-route to the pond. I found one more, a beautiful, huge female, smack bang in the middle of the car park, who didn’t really seem to know where she was going! I’ll always remember that occasion.

A surprising highlight was the encounters with other people along the way. I suppose our little team of high-vis ’ed helpers stood out, with our buckets of squirming creatures and habit of scooping them up moments before the impact of foot, tyre or paw! We certainly became familiar to the weekly jogging group (who I’m pleased to say would shout “toad!” back through the ranks as appropriate), and one personal trainer and their client who watched bemused as we frantically rescued toads from the road next to where they were busy exercising! Such encounters raised awareness of the plight, with two ladies being so affected by our conversation one evening that they expressed their apprehension to leave the car park for fear of running any over. My favourite encounter was with a man who, having spotted us in action already, backtracked to alert us to two toads “right on top of each other, over there in the middle of the path”!

I admit, I became a bit obsessed with the mission over the patrolling period – there were missed church meetings, abandoned phone calls, and compulsory participation from visiting family members. But the alternative just didn’t bear thinking about. It was hard enough witnessing the relatively few casualties that I did. In contrast to many patrols, our only road is a cul-de-sac with comparatively less traffic to contend with. What’s more, the experience had an extra special layer to it last year. It was one of the few passions I was still able to indulge, after three months of suffering from post-covid fatigue, which had rendered my attempts at a pre-diseased lifestyle futile. Taking care of something other than myself and being so engrossed in an activity offered a much-needed release from my own problems. Quite frankly, the toads were helping me as much as I them, and in fact it was hard to find a purpose again once the season ended.

And so, it goes without saying that I await the soggy slap of a frog’s belly on the ground in 2023 with bated breath! I’m also extremely excited that not long ago, a second volunteer was recruited through the Froglife website. If I’m feeling brave enough, I’d like to increase awareness of the migration through direct contact with the community centre and library, as well as in the community magazine. Ideally, use of the car park for regular events would be limited until BST begins and event timetable clashes with peak amphibian movements can be avoided. One thing I am grateful for is the kind donation of a colour printer from our lovely neighbours which will save hours of work spent on making the red warning triangle by hand! I can happily encourage anyone reading this with an inkling of making your rescue missions official by registering as a toad patrol to go for it! It’s great to have the support from Froglife and to feel like you’re part of the migration up and down the country. Happy patrolling, everyone!

Eyes of swirling fire
Beauty in a bumpy maze
Fingerprint of warts

To find out more about the Toads on Roads Project, please visit the Froglife website.

What our animals are doing this month: Toad Special

February 27, 2023 by Clare Middleton

The wonderful common toad will be migrating to its breeding grounds now. They take the saying ‘there’s safety in numbers’ seriously and migrate en masse. These migratory journeys can be perilous especially as we tend to dissect habitats with roads and housing estates. This is where our lovely volunteers from Toads on Roads come in. Rather than lots of squished toads, we have volunteers that visit migratory crossing places with buckets and torches to transport the toads from one side of the road to the other. The numbers can vary, but there can be hundreds travelling at once, so that means lots of buckets and volunteers are needed!

Once safely across, the toads can go about their business getting to their ancestral breeding pond. The males get to the breeding grounds first and wait for females to arrive. You may get the odd male straggler that manages to grab a female before she gets to the pond- successfully securing his mate.

Once the toads have found mates, the main event begins- spawning! A toad’s spawn is unlike frogs in that it is laid in two long strings rather than being laid in clumps. The strings are attached to underwater plants and one female can lay as many as 1500 eggs! This is to ensure the next generation of toads is secure.

Toads waste no time leaving the water once spawning has been completed. Back to slurping slugs at night at their earliest convenience!

If you would like to get involved and support our toads please check out our website for a Toad Patrol near you.

Inspired by Nature: Toad Poems

September 26, 2022 by admin

For Halloween our Discovering Dewponds Project Manager has chosen a couple of her favourite poems from the book ‘The Book of The Toad’ by Robert M. Degraaff:

Toads

Dusk comes suddenly on the narrow road

that follows the hill eastward and down. The woman’s

fears are the live pieces of dark that appear

where there was nothing.

In a tree that had been bare, she sees a dozen

great-tailed grackles slanting like eyebrows.

From a deserted hut comes a black feather of smoke

and a low voice.

Between the rocks, the dark is filling with toads:

their breath is the slow rising of the sky

behind her. She fears rain and she fears the toad-dust

thirsty for rain.

But then the evening sidles up to her,

holding out precious stones in a handkerchief.

She draws away from the opals and tigers’ eyes,

sure that she will pay

too much, but he touches her sleeve and she turns.

Below her in the rich light she sees a row

of trees like bubbles of blood welling up

from a cut

and beyond them the sky hunched like a toad

over the town, its skin mottled purple,

black, and vermillion. If this is the dark,

there is no escaping it.

She asks the name of the sky-toad, huge

and lovely. A tongue flickers from his mouth

and now the sun itself is a stone, burning

in his forehead.

Conrad Hilberry

A visit to the Gingerbread House

“Why, sit down!” (So I let myself settle

In a fudge chair.) “I’ll put on the kettle,”

Purred the witch. “Here, just try

Some delicious toad pie

And a cup of hot Hansel and Gretel!”

X. J. KENNEDY

What our animals are doing this month…

March 29, 2022 by admin

Does it feel like Spring to you? It definitely does to us Froglifers and I think our amphibians and reptiles can feel it too.

In March we will have hopefully seen some common frogs and common toads but now that it is April, we will start to see more of our newt species. In Scotland you will be more likely to spot a palmate newt, this is because they like the acidity of Scottish waters. Adult palmate newts typically have no pigment under their chin, but do have a yellow underside. During breeding season, the males develop black webbing on their back feet and a filament at the tip of their tail. Palmate newts can often be seen in April and will be most active from late afternoon to midnight.

Another newt species you might spot is the smooth newt. This species is the UK’s most widespread and if you live in England, you are more likely to spot a smooth newt than a palmate newt. Adult smooth newts have a bright yellow or orange belly with black spots, and their skin is varying shades of grey or brown. In the breeding season males develop a wavy crest along their back which females will look at and judge when deciding who to mate with. The smooth newt will be seen moving towards the water in April during night-time and particularly after heavy rainfall. In April and May, the species will be at their highest in terms of numbers.

Remember to report your amphibian and reptile sightings (including eggs and spawn) on our free Dragonfinder app. You can download it here.

What our animals are doing this month….

January 27, 2022 by admin

It is generally said that February is the month when common frogs start to return to their ponds, breed and lay their spawn. This is due to better weather conditions and warmer temperatures. However, with an ever-warming climate, the Common Frog can breed as early as January.

Frogs are the first amphibian to start breeding with the Common Toad usually breeding from March, the Natterjack Toad in April and Pool Frog in May.

How to spot frogs and their spawn in your local pond? Make sure to keep an eye out for clumps of jelly-like eggs floating on the pond surface and they can lay up to 2000 eggs per year. Common Toad spawn, as stated above, is laid later than Common Frog spawn so it is unlikely you will see this in your pond until March. Toad spawn can be identified by the fact it is laid in strings usually wrapped around plants on and below the water rather than clumps on the surface.

If you do see any Common Frog spawn, Common Toad spawn or other amphibians or reptiles, make sure to let us know through Froglife’s free Dragon Finder app on the Google Play and Apple Store!

Toad

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