Toad in the hole (or not)

Common Toad (Bufo bufo)

The UK is rather depauperate in the amphibian department, with only seven native species and a double handful of introductions and established escapees. We've recorded three of the native species in the garden, and don't realistically expect any others – though a surprise Great Crested Newt (Triturus cristatus) is an outside possibility. I've already profiled the Smooth Newt (Lissotriton vulgaris) and Common Frog (Rana temporaria). The Common Toad (Bufo bufo) is the last of the trio, and it's well-represented in numbers here. I stumbled (almost literally) across this sizable individual yesterday as it crossed one of the paths in front of me. Though it's the same general size and shape as the Common Frog, its warty skin and the bulging parotoid glands on the back of its head help to identify it. It also lacks the frog's distinctive longitudinal skin ridges and dark face patches. Given its size and fairly warm brown colouring, this may be a female; males tend to be smaller and a bit greyer. The parotoid glands and the toad's skin contain a toxin – bufotoxin – that tastes nasty enough to deter most predators. Their tadpoles contain the same toxin, which helps to protect them from the fish that happily gobble down (unprotected) frog tadpoles.

Common Toads are (appropriately enough, given their name) common and widespread across most of the UK, though missing from offshore islands. They're primarily nocturnal, doing most of their hunting after dark. Like all amphibians, they breed in the water, laying eggs in long, jellied strings which are attached to aquatic plants. Adults spend the rest of the year in grassland, gardens, woodland and hedgerows, munching on various invertebrates. Snails and slugs are among their favorite foods, which makes them popular with gardeners. They hibernate during the year's coldest months, either in holes underground or under stones or log piles, venturing back out into the world on the first warm evening of the year. They may emerge as early as mid-February, and can be seen as late as October. Given that their average lifespan is 4 years, and that we're a long way from the busy roads that kill hundreds of thousands of them in the UK each year, we'll hopefully be seeing some of our regulars for many months yet.