New toad spawn on the Nursery

2024 update:

We were excited to see toads and new toad spawn on the Nursery again this year!

• They have returned to exactly the same place on the Nursery as they were born in 2019.
• We think they must be the mature hatchings from the below entry of 2019.
• So it appears to take 5 years for them to mature and try to return to the pond of their birth.
• We never saw them in this area of the Nursery last year.
• We had some toads last year in 2023 but they used a different low tank at the very back of the Nursery.

These toads could have found a new or re-routed road built across their route in these 5 years. Their return journey would then be very hazardous.

Toad wardens are important on our roads now.

• Our toads could have found a new or re-routed road built across their route back in these intervening 5 years.
• Their return journey to us would then be very hazardous.
• In certain areas Toad Wardens patrol the well-known routes that toads have historically used.
• Toads try to return to the same breeding pond each year.
• Toad Wardens help toads trying to slowly cross a road when vehicles are also using the road.
• Most toads travel at dusk or overnight. Car drivers cannot see them.
• When a toad reaches one side of the road the Wardens will collect them and take them across the road to safety on the other side.
• The toads can then safely complete their journey to the pond of their birth.
• New wardens are always needed to check any new roads built or re-routed to find if toads will try to cross in the mating season.
• In certain hotspots this can save the lives of thousands of toads across a mating period.

Complete the current 2024 Spawn Survey if you see either frog or toad spawn in your pond. Freshwater Habitats.

The spawn seen this year is already looking elongated and no longer round black eggs in the spawn string so they are viable, fertilised eggs we have again. We will follow their progress.

2019:

The sound of the toads made us investigate.

• It was a high pitched squeeking noise we had not heard before that sounded almost like a bird's cry.
• We saw a female with some spawn still attached to her swimming in one of our ground level troughs.
• Then we saw her on land with what looked like a juvenile on her back and another adult nearby too.
• She had left her strings of spawn wound around the stems of the Veronica beccabunga plant in the water.

We find this really encouraging as toads should return to the pond of their birth to mate and the Nursery has only been on its current site for 2 years so this female could not have been born here.

We are so delighted her sat nav went wrong. She stopped here with us and now we hope we can see her spawn grow into tadpoles and  young toadlets that will stay close to the Nursery.

We will now leave this trough undisturbed as we watch the spawn develop. We also saw newts in the same trough so we will see how they live alongside each other.

Hopefully the newts will not eat the toad spawn or tadpoles because of their unpleasant taste.

We have just entered this new toad spawn siting into the Freshwater Habitats Trust Spawn Survey - this is the last week for entries so hurry to enter your sightings too.

For more information on toad lifecycle please visit our Tips and Advice page.