With distinctive warty skin and an iconic call, toads are often found in tales of witchcraft and magic. These amphibians love damp and shady spots, and are seen along our canals, rivers, and reservoirs.
As a defence mechanism, toads have glands on their back that secrete a distasteful toxin.
Toad facts
Scientific name: Bufo bufo
Family: Bufonidae
Diet: Invertebrates, small amphibians, and small mammals
Predators: Otters, hedgehogs, grass snakes, herons, and birds of prey
Size: 8-13cm
Weight: Up to 80g
Lifespan: Up to 4 years
About toads
The UK has two native species of toad: the common toad and the natterjack toad.
Natterjack toads are very rare and prefer coastal habitats, so you’re unlikely to see them on our canals.
On the other hand, the common toad is a widespread amphibian throughout England and Wales and is often found in deep freshwater, like our canals, rivers, and reservoirs, as well as ponds and lakes.
Common toads have rough, ‘warty’ skin and move in a crawling fashion (as opposed to the frog’s hop), earning them their historic reputation as a witch’s familiar.
Toads and our canals
As amphibians, toads divide their time between the drier woodland and grassland and the wetlands they use for breeding. Our canals provide an important habitat for toads to feed, breed, and travel safely.
Toads are one of the real characters of British wildlife and often choose to breed on our waterways. Canals provide a perfect place for toads to spawn, as the fish in them deter frogs from also trying to lay their eggs in the same spots.
The common toad can be anything from dark brown to green or grey. Their skin is dry and known for its characteristically ‘warty’ appearance. Common toads have copper eyes with horizontal pupils.
With light brown, warty skin and amber eyes, the common toad sits in shallow water, which shows a clear reflection
What do toads eat?
Toads prefer a diet of slugs, spiders, worms, and other invertebrates. As largely nocturnal creatures, toads hunt at night, sneaking up on their prey and using their long, sticky tongues to catch each meal.
Some common toads might also eat small mammals and other small amphibians. As tadpoles, they eat algae and water plants.
How do toads breed?
The breeding season begins in early spring, as soon as the evening weather warms. Starting as early as the first few days of March, toads migrate en masse to ponds, reservoirs, lakes, and canals to find a mate. It can sometimes be a long journey. Males tend to arrive first, but they can get impatient and ambush female toads on the way.
Male toads then fight each other to impress the females and, if successful, they jump on the female's back and use special nuptial pads (amplexus) to hold her.
Female toads produce around 1,500 fertilised eggs among vegetation in deep water. Tadpoles emerge after 10 days and mature after 16 weeks. As tadpoles grow, they lose their tails and grow legs to become toadlets.
Like adult toads, tadpoles also have toxins in their skin, protecting them from predators in deeper waters.
Where do toads live?
The common toad is found almost everywhere in England and Wales.
For most of the year, toads prefer to spend much of their time living in shallow burrows in grassland, hedgerows, and woodlands – away from water. It is only in the breeding season that toads make the journey to our canals and other wetlands. Toads conserve energy over winter, spending their time on land in mud or compost, emerging to feed on milder days.
The common toad is a nocturnal creature, and therefore, most likely spotted at night. However, they spend much of the year away from water, hiding in secret burrows.
Your best chance of spotting a toad along our canals is in early spring. Famed for their journeys to breeding ponds on warm, damp evenings, toads travel in large groups to mate in water. Listen out for their low croak in early March.
What’s the difference between a frog and a toad?
Both amphibians and both small, you’ll be easily forgiven for confusing frogs and toads. However, there are a few key differences to tell the two apart.
Toads (pictured right) tend to be larger than frogs (pictured left) but with shorter legs and they crawl where frogs hop. Toads also lay their toadspawn in strings, unlike frogspawn, which is laid in large clumps.
Toad tadpoles are found in deeper water, where their toxic skin protects them from fish and other predators. They’re also black, while frog tadpoles are more green in colour.
Threats to toads
Like many species along our canal network, the common toad has suffered from habitat loss. Drainage of wetlands across England and Wales has threatened toad breeding ponds.
Infrastructure, like roads, poses a danger to migratory species that are killed by traffic as they travel to their breeding sites.
Our canals provide safe spaces for toads to travel along and still water for them to spawn in.
