On Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:17:48 -0000, Gopher wrote:

In message , Ragnar
writes

"Dave Hill" wrote in message
...
Went outside this evening around 8pm and on the track were young toads
all heading in one direction, so I picked them uop and carried them
down to the pond before foxes, badgers etc had them.
The whole time I was carrying them they were chattering away, don't
know if they were thanking me for the lift.
When I came to put them down one had taken a liking to one of my
fingers and didn't want to let go.
They were less than half the size of a full grown toad.
The things we do for wild life.
David Hill

They were adult toads returning to their ponds to mate. There are no
young
toads at this time of year as they do not emerge from the water until
June.
R.


As I mentioned in a previous post, we had an orgy of frogs (up to 60) in
cavorting in one of our ponds about 4 weeks ago. Due to all the rain,
the pond was abnormally high and the spawn was laid at the shallow end
where the stones etc. gave support. Of course with the absence of rain
and the consequent falling water level, the spawn became frozen
regularly overnight. It's still there rather stranded. I decided not to
interfere but I suspect not too many froglets will emerge from that
particular pond this year. Sorry - that was a bit OT but we have
another, larger, wildlife pond which is the haunt of the toads at this
time. I haven't seen any strings of spawn yet but I have seen them about
in the area. Lots of newts in there too. But the frogs and the toads
never seem to use the same pond. Is that normal?

While we have not spotted any toads in our pond so far this year we
frequently end up with both frogs and toads laying spawn in it.

--
rbel