Epidalea calamita - Natterjack Toad

Epidalea calamita - Natterjack Toad - picture: Piet Spaans, Wikipedia

Taxonomy

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Amphibia

Order: Anura

Family: Bufonidae

At six to 7cm long when fully grown, making it lightly smaller than the more familiar and more widespread Common Toad, the Natterjack Toad gets its common name from the loud rasping call made by the male as it sits at night on the edge of a brackish lagoon or a freshwater pool hoping to attract a mate during the breeding season. The specific epither calamita is a reference to the way this toad moves around: rather than hopping like a frog or crawling like a Common Toad, it runs.

A thin yellow line down the middle of its back distinguishes the Natterjack Toad from the Common Toad. There are other differences, too: the legs of this toad are shorter than those of the Common Toad, and so Natterjacks run rather than ambling along like the Common Toad or hopping like a frog.

You are unlikely to find Natterjack Toads in your garden - at least not unless you live by the seaside. In Britain these rather scarce toads are nearly all confined to coastal dune systems, and coastal marsh and heathland where the shallow ponds hold warm water - natterjacks don't usually breed successfully in cold water, although surprisingly a colony is known to survive in an upland fell site in Cumbria, where it is unlikely that there are many shallow pools of freshwater as warm as those found in coastal dune slacks.

Common Toad

Natterjack Toads mate usually between March and May but sometimes as late as June or early July. The ribbon-like spawn of a Natterjack is easily distinguished from the 'tapioca pudding' form of frog spawn; however, it's not easy to tell whether a ribbon came from a Common Toad or its relative the Natterjack Toad, but if you look closely you will see that a Common Toad lays spawn in a double row, whereas the Natterjack's spawn is a single file ribbon. An even easier way to tell the difference is to wait and see what kind of toadlets develop. The tiny black tadpoles of Natterjack Toads develop quickly, and the young toadlets soon acquire their distinctive yellow dorsal stripes.

Toads secrete an irritant from their skin, and as a result few predators want to eat more than one of them! There are exceptions, however: grass snakes and even hedgehogs are able to eat toads without apparently suffering any discomfort from toxic secretions.

With their warty, wrinkled skin toads always look old, and some of them certainly are: if they can avoid being run down by road vehicles and keep out of the way of their natural predators, toads can live to a ripe old age - up to 40 years.

Populations of Natterjack Toads occur in Wales, England and Scotland. This species is protected by British and European law which makes it an offence to kill, injure, capture or disturb them or to damage or destroy their habitat. If these toads move in to your garden pond, enjoy their company by alll means, but be aware that it is illegal to sell them or to give them to a friend or a neighbour. (These rules apply not only to Natterjack Toads but also to their spawn or larval stages.)