Types Of Amphibians in Wildlife Gardens

What type of creatures are they?

rogs, toads and newts are all amphibians, meaning that their body temperature varies with their surroundings, they lay eggs en masse (called spawn) that develop into tadpoles, and they hibernate during the winter months.

Where there is a likelihood that newts and frogs will be in competition, the newts will usually win out, so it is unlikely that you will have a community of frogs, toads and newts in the same pond.

FROGS AND TOADS

Many species of frog and toad are in decline, possibly because of modern farming methods. To encourage frogs and toads, you need to build a good wildlife pond that is completely free of chemicals.

Since they will return year after year to the same breeding ponds, it is possible to establish a breeding colony in your garden pond simply by bringing in spawn from one of the accredited conservation organizations.

Frogs and toads mostly eat insects, worms, slugs and snails, but they will, given the chance, eat just about anything from small mammals, birds and fish to each other, and even pet food. Frog and toad tadpoles eat plants and algae growing on the plants. The warmer the water in the pond, the faster will be the development from spawn to froglet or toadlet.

Although frogs and toads are relatively safe from predators at the spawn stage, the moment they turn into tadpoles they become easy hunting for fish, birds, adult frogs and toads, snakes and many other waterside creatures.

NEWTS

Although at first glance newts look a bit lizard-like, they move slowly, prefer damp and shade rather than full sun, and have a smooth, velvety skin rather than scales. Newts eat worms, slugs, snails, insects, tadpoles, froglets and each other.

In spring, newts head for the breeding ponds – the males first and then the females. By the time the females arrive, the males have developed their breeding characteristics – coloured crests and webbed toes.

Newts lay their eggs in ones and twos until they have a clutch of about 300. Newt tadpoles eat bugs and insects.

Frogs produce masses of spawn because only a small proportion will survive to adulthood.

Bufo Bufo (Common Toad)

Found in Europe, North Africa, the UK and some parts of the USA, but numbers have been decimated by pollution.

Colours range from reddish brown to blackish brown. The female grows to a maximum adult length of about 13 cm (5 in), while males are smaller at about 7.5 cm (3 in).

In spring, the female lays about 4,000 eggs in long ribbon-like strands.

Rana temporaria (Common Frog)

Found in Europe and the UK, but numbers are declining. Colours range from muddy brown to yellow-red fawn. It grows to a maximum adult length of about 12 cm (4½ in). The female tends to have a brown-red belly; the male’s is grey to whitish. Breeding takes place in spring.

Frogs are known to favour certain ponds over others, and they sometimes return en masse to areas where the ponds have long gone. A healthy female will lay up to 2,000 eggs in large clusters of spawn, and the growth stages – spawn to tadpole to adult frog – take about three months. Given the right conditions, a frog will live for six or more years.

STUDYING AMPHIBIANS

A good way for children to study the spawn stage of frogs and toads is to keep a small amount of spawn in a jar of water, and then use a good-sized magnifying glass to focus in on the egg and post-egg stages. 

If you are patient, you will see all the developmental stages – the black blobs in the spawn moving, the tadpoles taking shape, the tails getting shorter, the growth of the legs, and the little froglet or toadlet hopping out onto dry land. If you are keen to study the newts in your pond, take a torch and go down to the pond on a series of warm evenings in spring, and lie on your stomach with your face very close to the water. If you shine the light down through the water you might, if you are lucky, see newts at the breeding, egg-laying and tadpole stages.

At breeding time, adult newts tend to show extra bright colours on their skin, such as much larger flashes of yellow and orange.

A male great crested newt, with the characteristic crest that runs from the head to the tail and on around the underside
through to the back legs

Triturus helveticus (Palmate Newt)

Pale olive-brown to olive-green, with and without dark spots, very much like the common newt but without the spotting on the throat. The breeding male has a low, straight-topped crest running from neck to tail, 7.5–10 cm (3–4 in) long. On land, the female has a reddish stripe on the back; this can be seen in the breeding season from mid-spring to early summer, but is less obvious at other times.

Triturus cristatus (Great Crested Newt)

Found in the UK and Europe, this newt is darkish black-brown with a yelloworange underside and grows to 13–15 cm (5–6 in) long. The crest runs from head to tail on the back, round the tip of the tail and on the underside of the tail through to the back legs.

There are ‘source’ ponds that have well established colonies, where newts breed and disperse, and ‘sink’ ponds where they occasionally breed.

Triturus vulgaris (Common Newt)

This newt is smooth-skinned and ranges from dark black-brown to yelloworange fawn. It grows to a length of 7.5–10 cm (3–4 in). In the breeding season, the male develops wavy crest from neck to tail.