7 August 2017
From the sectionBeds, Herts & Bucks
Natterjacks are distinguished from common toads by the yellow stripe along their back
One of the UK's rarest toads is thriving at a nature reserve despite unfavourable spring breeding conditions, conservationists claim.
About 500 natterjack toadlets have been counted at the RSPB's The Lodge reserve near Sandy, Bedfordshire, - fives times more toads than were counted in 2016.
Another 2,000 tadpoles have also been identified and were an indication of a "baby boom", the charity said.
The protected toads are only found at 60 sites in the UK.
In 2016 just 100 toadlets emerged from the pools at the reserve, and fewer than 100 were counted the year before, warden Lizzie Bruce said.
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Showing posts with label natterjack toad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label natterjack toad. Show all posts
Thursday, 17 August 2017
Tuesday, 12 August 2014
Warts and all: Bid to save rare natterjack toads in Scotland
8 August 2014 Last updated at 11:30
By David Miller
BBC Scotland environment correspondent
Scientists are building up a photographic database of the rare and endangered natterjack toad, in a bid to ensure its survival in Scotland.
They are relying on each toad's unique pattern of warts to enable them to identify individual animals.
That information will then be used by researchers monitoring whether the population rises or falls in the coming years.
The work is being carried out along the Solway Firth.
The toads can be found on sand dunes and in salt marshes known as merse.
The scientists search the area after dark, using torchlight to find the natterjacks.
The toads are then measured and photographed.
Friday, 16 March 2012
€56,413 to be spent on natterjack toad project
The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has confirmed that it is spending €56,413 to carry out a monitoring project on the natterjack toad that is found mainly in Co Kerry.
In response to a Freedom of Information request, the department also confirmed that it is also spending €54,500 on the first ever national study of the marsh fritillary butterfly.
The marsh fritillary is the only legally protected insect out of 12,000 Irish insects.
An expert on natterjack toads, Prof Mark Emmerson of Queen’s University Belfast, yesterday described the toad as an “iconic species”.
Both the toad and the butterfly are protected under the EU habitats directive. Sweeney Consultancy has secured the contract for the surveillance operation on the natterjack toad and is due to deliver its final report in November.
Woodrow Sustainable Solutions Ltd’s contract on the marsh fritillary is due to be completed next month.
The department said: “Surveys are progressing to schedule. Preliminary indications are that there has been a good initial uptake of the newly created ponds by natterjacks.”
The department said that if the works are not carried out, “the department would face a lengthy, time-consuming and time-wasting infringement process and the work would still have to be done”.
Prof Emmerson said that the spend on the natterjack toad study “is money well spent”.
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