The Common Frog

The Common Frog (Rana temporaria), is a regular visitor to garden ponds across the country. 

These amphibians breed in  ponds during the spring and spend much of the rest of the year feeding in woodland, gardens, hedgerows. and tussocky grassland. In winter, they hibernate in pond mud or under log piles. 

Common Frogs:

• have smooth, moist skin
• vary in colour from green, to brown,  to yellow, to red
• have a distinctive, dark patch behind their eyes and bands around their back legs
• hop rather than a walk
• inhabit garden ponds, and like to lay their spawn in large jelly-like clumps
• males will make a ribbit sound to attract females

Common Toad

The Common Toad, Bufo bufo, breeds in ponds during the spring and spends much of the rest of the year feeding in woodland, gardens, hedgerows, and tussocky grassland. They hibernate over winter, often under log piles, stones, or even in old flower pots!

Toads are famous for their mass migrations back to their breeding ponds on the first warm, damp evenings of the year, often around St. Valentine's Day. 

Common toads :

• can be identified by their copper eyes and olive-brown, warty skin
• have squat, broad bodies, and short back legs
• prefer to walk, instead of hop
• tend to breed in larger, deeper ponds, and will lay their spawn in long, double rows around aquatic plants.
• tadpoles contain toxins that make them unpleasant for predators to eat.
• do not ‘ribbit’, but they like to hug! Males will embrace females tightly from behind during mating.

A Common Interest

One reputation these two amphibians share is that they are a gardener’s best friend, as both will clear gardens of slugs and snails.

Some frogs and toads will accommodate themselves in greenhouses, as they are attracted to the warm, moist conditions, eating insects, and other small creatures that reside there.