On 18 Mar, 22:59, Sacha wrote:
On 2010-03-18 19:17:40 +0000, rbel said:





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.

No toads here yet or at least not that we know of. *It poured with rain
today so tonight might tell a different story. *I'll look for them
tomorrow but up until now it's been frogs only.
--
Sachawww.hillhousenursery.com
Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics.
South Devon- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Did 2 toad walks last night and picked up 47 small(Male) and 3 large
(Female) toads.
One female had 5 males clinging to her back.
I never realised that there was such a size differance between the
males and females.
Thi rain has realy brought them out. I wonder how many nights this
will go on.
David Hill