Natterjack Toad (Epidalea calamita)
‘Boy racers require love! (and new homes)’
The Natterjack Toad is also known as the ‘running toad’, because its shorter legs mean that it prefers not to walk, or even hop, like its larger cousins. To compliment this the Natterjack also boasts a distinctive ‘go faster’, yellow stripe down its back.
Natterjacks, are also very noisy toads, The males serenade their ladies from the pond edge for much of the night, during in the breeding season, in the hopes of attracting a fair (toad) maid. On a still night, you can hear them from as far as 2km!
Our rarest toad, the Natterjack is almost exclusively found in coastal sand dune systems, coastal grazing marshes and sandy heaths, though a single colony has been found on an upland fell site in Cumbria. It likes these habitats because it needs sand in which to burrow (and escape from predators), and warm shallow water, in which to lay its strings of spawn.
Perhaps surprisingly, despite a preference for warm water, most Natterjacks are found in northern England and Scotland. Although, it was once common on the heaths of Surrey and Hampshire, and around the coast of East Anglia, sadly now only one or two colonies remain mainly due to loss of habitat, and disturbance by us humans, who also find sandy dunes irresistible.
Your £15.00 will go into the Million Ponds Project pond digging fund, to help us to work with our partners Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, to make new, safer homes in the sand dunes suitable for these small, but loud, amphibians.
The Give and Let Live Scheme is supported by our friends at Miller Philanthropy,
with additional thanks to Nick Roberts Design for the illustrations.
