Froglife

Leaping forward for reptiles and amphibians

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Volunteer

Hampton Nature Reserve – Volunteer Day

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Join our lovely team of Hampton volunteers fortnightly on Thursdays to help maintain the site and its stunning wildlife! Develop your practical skills and improve your identification knowledge via our range of activities which may include habitat management, tool maintenance, pond restorations, and community engagement!

Where to meet: The grass verge opposite West Lake Avenue (parking available)

What to bring: 

  • Walking boots or wellies (cleaned to avoid contaminating the site)
  • Weather Appropriate clothing
  • Plenty to drink
  • Snacks if you need them

***Please be aware that this environment does not accommodate pushchairs or wheelchairs, and no toilet facilities are available.***

Froglife and its volunteer’s management of this site is made possible by National Lottery Heritage Fund and O&H Land.

Hampton Nature Reserve – Volunteer Day

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Join our lovely team of Hampton volunteers fortnightly on Thursdays to help maintain the site and its stunning wildlife! Develop your practical skills and improve your identification knowledge via our range of activities which may include habitat management, tool maintenance, pond restorations, and community engagement!

Where to meet:

The grass verge opposite West Lake Avenue (parking available)

What to bring: 

  • Walking boots or wellies (cleaned to avoid contamination of the site)
  • Weather appropriate clothing
  • Plenty to drink
  • Snacks if needed

***Please be aware that this environment does not accommodate pushchairs or wheelchairs, and no toilet facilities are available.***

Froglife and its volunteer’s management of this site is made possible by National Lottery Heritage Fund and O&H Land.

Volunteer Recognition Day

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Our volunteers are the lifeblood of our operations at our nature reserves throughout the year. Whether it be running and assisting on surveys of reptiles, amphibians, birds and butterflies, or getting stuck into some habitat management, we could not operate the reserves without them.

Between August of last year and January of this year, they clocked up an impressive 953 hours of volunteering, which is 39.7 days! We have a very committed and amusing group at Hampton, who always make even the dullest days outside enjoyable and of course, we are incredibly grateful for their hard work.

What is extra special is that some volunteers will go the extra mile and we are able to facilitate some exploration of any specific interests they have to say thank you. For example, if a volunteer had a particular interest in moths, we can encourage them to learn more and help conduct butterfly and moth surveys alongside our usual tasks. This makes days out on the reserve even more enjoyable, as we are able to share our varied (and sometimes niche!) interests and make everyday a learning day, whether it be identifying ants or trying to work out what Lichen we are seeing on the trees! 

Volunteer Recognition Day is taking place on the 20th April. 

An Introduction to Froglife’s newest Trustee

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London Tails of Amphibian Discovery (T.O.A.D) project manager, Emily Millhouse, has a chat with Froglife’s newest trustee, Xavier Mahele, to hear more about his passion for amphibians and reptiles.

Q: Who is Xavier Mahele?

I am a 19 year old ecology student and I really like frogs! 

Q: What is it about amphibians and reptiles that you like?

I love how enigmatic amphibians and reptiles can be. Turning over a log or looking into a pond or scanning sand dunes and healthland, you never know what you’re going to find. And I think putting on a head torch on a cool, moonlit night after heavy rain to look for amphibians hunting worms is one of the most exciting nature experiences there is! 

Q: What is your favourite amphibian, and why?

I am an avid fan of globose frogs. I’m very fond of the little round guys. So my top ones have to be the shovel nose frogs ,Hemisus, from Africa, the Nasikabatrachus purple frogs from India or the South American frogs Synapturanus and Elachistocleis! But my absolute favourite has to be the mexican burrowing toad, Rhinophrynus dorsalis! Their purple and orange colours are so ornate and males calling in their breeding ponds is hilarious, the way their entire bodies inflate and move when they sing! They are fossorial and spend a lot of their lives underground eating termites and chilling out which is a lifestyle I try to emulate. They are also the most evolutionarily distinct amphibian species, diverging 190 million years ago and the last surviving member of their family Rhinophrynidae!

Q: Why did you decide to get involved with Froglife?

I decided to get involved with Froglife three years ago, for my work experience in year 11, after reading about Froglife on the internet and using Froglife’s ‘Just add water’ guide to build my first pond. I had a great time helping out the London Tails of Amphibian Discovery (T.O.A.D) team with events, school visits and many hours of newt catching! I’ve been coming back ever since to help with all things herpetology!

Q: What’s your earliest childhood memory relating to nature?

I was very into prehistoric life when I was small and I often remember exploring the natural history museum, admiring the specimens, or looking for them on the beaches on the south coast. I also watched a lot of wildlife programmes when I was little. I was a big fan of Steve Backshall’s Deadly 60! 

Q: Did you have a favourite green space to see amphibians that you visited whilst growing up?

I spent many hours watching the newts and toads at my grandparents pond growing up. It was magical to see the shimmering shoals of toad tadpoles in the golden sunlight as the turquoise of a smooth newt floated past. It was exciting watching the zig-zagging hawker dragonflies and watching the little water slaters munch away at the detritus. And thanks to a heron a few years ago, I now know there are common frogs in that pond as well!

Q: As a young conservationist, where would you like to see the UK conservation sector be in 30 years time?

In 30 years time, I hope we’ve been able to restore and reconnect our degraded habitats, stem our further encroachment and allow everyone to have the opportunity to access nature rich areas. 

Q: What advice would you give to another young person who wanted to get into UK conservation?

Don’t be afraid to reach out to people, everyone is very nice and who knows what doors it can open up for you.

Q: What one thing would you encourage people to do at home to help amphibians and/or reptiles?

If you have a garden or community greenspace you’re involved in, think about putting a pond in, they can bring so much joy from wriggling tadpoles to the splash of frogs diving in. Once established and planted up, they look incredible and provide essential habitat for amphibians to breed in and have some respite from the heat in summer. If you’re feeling inspired after that, you can always add long grass areas and log piles to complement it and provide additional spaces for amphibians to feed and hide. In our increasingly fragmented landscape, we all must do our part to restore some habitats. Froglife has a great booklet called ‘Just add water’ which you can get in pdf form online which is a really great resource. 

Watch Out: There’s toads about!

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An article by Patrick Beaumont

A few years ago I created a small pond, 12ft x 6ft x 2.5ft deep and populated it with goldfish, etc. Sometime later whilst walking my dog we noticed something writhing in the road: it was a newt with a mangled front leg. I took it home and using scissors snipped off the leg, dabbed a bit of antibiotic on the stump and put the newt on a lily leaf. It lived for another five years and even grew a new leg, albeit a bit smaller than the original.

The pond was quickly colonised by toads, who as tadpoles gorged themselves on the food meant for the fish. The front lawn became a “No Mow” zone because of all the toadlets hopping about. The local corvid population loved this so I had to net the lawn, much to my partner’s annoyance. On warm Spring days it is lovely to sit out and listen to the amorous calls of dozens of romantic toads. However, last year was a disaster; it was carnage on warm moist evenings as the toads tried to cross the road. I rescued 100s but many died after I went to bed. I need my sleep.

The serious casualties were the gravid, slow-moving females and the few females that made it to the pond were pounced on by the males in great heaps and promptly drowned. I then discovered Froglife – check it out folks, it’s fascinating. They sent me a pdf file to create warning posters to put by the roadside and, bless them, the passing motorists took notice. This year I am delighted to report that only one toad croaked (couldn’t resist the pun) and we have a pond full of toads and spawn.

Can You Help a Toad Patrol?

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Common Toads are very particular about where they breed and often migrate back to their ancestral breeding ponds each year. They follow the same route, regardless of what gets in their way, which sometimes leads to them crossing roads. We get a toad vs. traffic scenario and the toads inevitably come off worse.

There are many dedicated patrols all over the country who assist toads across these roads and sometimes, they need the public’s help. Click here to find out which patrols are looking for volunteers.

Use our Toads on Roads map to find your nearest crossing and visit our Toads on Roads page for any further information on toad patrolling.

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