Spotlight on: common toads

Katie and Rosalind may have got you excited with their talk of splendid newts and secret agent frogs, but personally I think I've saved the best amphibian until last - common toads.

Conceited, self-centred and lacking in basic common sense, 'The Wind in the Willows' hasn't given Mr Toad a very good reputation, which, as you'll read, is more than a little unfair.

While Mr Toad might have liked wearing tweeds, toads can actually alter their skin tone to suit their surroundings without the help of clothes.

And while he might also have dressed up as a washer-woman and had the help of a human to escape from prison, toads can get out of most sticky situations by themselves.

When faced with danger, they secrete a toxic and foul-tasting substance from their skin, which puts off all but the most determined predators.

Toads together

Between March and June, toads migrate en masse to their favoured breeding ponds. 

They move under the cover of darkness with some males hitching a ride on the back of the larger females. Once on, they use their legs to kick away any other males also hoping for a free ride.

Females lay strands of eggs many metres long. Tadpoles hatch after two/three weeks and as they gobble up as much vegetation as they can to feed their growing bodies - they can form shoals of tens of thousands of individuals.

Then, on damp nights in June and July, when the young have changed into toadlets, a swarm of them emerges from the water. They won't return until they are ready to breed two/three years later.

If you've a toad in your garden, don't forget to let us know.

To find out more about these creatures listen to our mini-podcast.