Common toads are amphibians, breeding in ponds during the spring and spending 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 tend to breed in larger, deeper ponds than common frogs. Toad tadpoles contain toxins that make them unpleasant for predators to eat, allowing them to survive in deep ponds containing fish, which would eat the tadpoles of frogs. Adult toads also contain these toxins, stored in their skin glands.

Common toads mainly feed on slugs, snails and other invertebrates, but larger toads have been known to eat small slow worms and grass snakes, and even harvest mice.

The common blue damselfly is our most common damselfly and can be found around almost any waterbody, or away from breeding sites in grassland and woodland. It is a regular visitor to gardens and is on the wing from April to September. The common blue damselfly is an aggressive species: males will defend their females as they lay their eggs, both from their own kind and other species. As with other damselflies, when common blues mate they form a ‘mating wheel’ in which the male clasps the female by the neck and she bends her body around to his reproductive organs.

Newts are amphibians, breeding in ponds during the spring and spending most of the rest of the year feeding on invertebrates in woodland, hedgerows, marshes and tussocky grassland. They hibernate underground, among tree roots and in old walls. The UK’s populations of the great crested newt are internationally important.

Our biggest newt, the great crested newt is almost black in colour, with spotted flanks and a striking, orange belly. It has warty skin and males have a long, wavy crest along the body and tail during the breeding season.

*Great crested newts are a protected species meaning you must not disturb, touch or pick one up.

The common darter is a small, narrow-bodied dragonfly that is typically on the wing from July to October, but can appear as early as May and still be around in December if its mild. This is a very common dragonfly, breeding in all sorts of waterbodies from ponds and ditches, to rivers and lakes. As their name suggests, Common darters dart forward suddenly from a hovering position to catch their insect-prey. They then take their catch to a favoured perch to eat it.

Male common darters are bright red, while the females and immature adults are golden-brown. There are several similar-looking red darters which can be very difficult to tell apart.

Common frogs are amphibians, breeding in ponds during the spring and spending much of the rest of the year feeding in woodland, gardens, hedgerows and tussocky grassland. They are familiar inhabitants of garden ponds, where they lay their eggs in big ‘rafts’ of spawn. They feed on a variety of invertebrates and even smaller amphibians.

The common frog varies in colour enormously, from green to brown and even red or yellow. It has smooth skin, a dark ‘mask’ behind the eye and long back legs, covered in dark bands. It hops and jumps rather than walks, and lays spawn in large jelly-like clumps.

 The lesser water boatman is one of a number of water boatmen species in the UK. It is common and widespread in weedy ponds, lakes and ditches. Like the common backswimmer, it has long, oar-like legs to help it swim at the surface of the water, but it does not swim upside-down. It is also herbivorous, eating algae and detritus, unlike the carnivorous common backswimmer. Like other aquatic bugs, Lesser water boatmen need to breathe at the water’ surface, but they have developed an ingenious trick to allow them to remain under water for longer: they hang upside-down, collecting air from the water’s surface and then carry it around as a bubble on their body. During warm weather the adults may take flight.