Beautiful warm night tonight, which is fitting for the spring equinox, I suppose. I happened to take a visit to the vegetable garden tonight (I’ve been hard at work there lately, digging and planting) when I heard a commotion from the pond in our neighbour’s garden. Shining the torch, I could see that there were dozens of toads sitting on the damp grass and splashing in the water.
It is obviously toad mating time again – there was no doubt what some of the toads were doing.
The fascinating thing was the noise they were making. I’ve never heard toads sing like this before, but they really did make quite a noise. Here is a recording I made (turn your volume up) that captures the sound:
I’ve seen toads mating here in previous years, but the sheer number this year made it quite a spectacle. For a species in decline it was good to see them obviously thriving here. Hats off to my neighbour for having such a good wildlife pond in his garden.
Mrs BWM made the find of the evening when she came across a small newt on the edge of the pond. I’m not a newt expert by any means, so I’m not sure what species it is. I’ll look it up in the guidebooks when I get a chance.
I remember reading somewhere that newts will eat frog- and toad-spawn, so perhaps it wasn’t as innocent as it looked.
Tales from the Wood - The Diary of a Badger Watching Man 