Herp, Herp, Hooray!

As amphibian and reptile enthusiasts, we have had an extremely exciting week. Last Sunday, we visited Wimpole Estate for a stroll around its acres of parkland. Having ambled around the woods and grassy meadows, we came to a small bridge overlooking a pond. At first, I noticed just one brightly green-tinged common toad. But then another toad came up to him and, with an aggressive kick, knocked him out of the way. Suddenly, we realised that the pond was absolutely filled with common toads of varying colours and sizes. Some were fighting, some were racing around, others had already achieved what they had come here for – they were breeding!

The breeding rituals of common toads are fascinating. After hibernation, male toads return each year to their ancestral pool, the same pool in which they were born. This journey can be fraught with danger, and many toads are killed on the roads during their expedition. If all goes well, they reach the pool safely before the females and wait for them to arrive. It is once the females arrive that the mayhem begins.

There are often more male toads than female toads in one pool – something that was very clear in the pond we were watching – meaning that vicious fights can take place between the males as they fend off potential rivals. We saw groups of males, all piling on top of each other, in some cases trying to get to the same female, in other cases trying to mate with each other because the frenzy had reached fever pitch. Even when a male had been in place on a female for some time, he wasn’t safe from rivals. Other males would come along and try to push him off. An attack which the resident male usually dealt with well by delivering swift kicks in all directions while retaining his position.

When a male mates with a female, he holds her in a tight grip, aided by the nuptial pads on his feet. This sturdy embrace is referred to as an ‘amplexus’ and its strength fares him well when he is attempting to maintain dominance while being attacked by others. As they sit in this position, the female will release strings of eggs which the male fertilises. As we saw in the pond at Wimpole, these often become wrapped around vegetation.

So as if that wasn’t enough excitement for one week, we were treated to another impressive wildlife experience on the bank holiday Monday when we visited the RSPB’s The Lodge at Sandy. Just a short time into our walk over the sandy heathland, I heard a rustling noise in the undergrowth. Looking over, I saw a common lizard disappear into the bracken. This is the first time that I can remember seeing a common lizard in the wild so I was understandably excited. But, of course, they are so elusive because of their impressive speed, so by the time I had crouched down to look he was well hidden. Having been to The Lodge many times before without seeing any lizards, we didn’t expect any more sightings that day.

However, after continuing on our walk for another hour or so, to our surprise, we saw another. This time, Andrew was alerted to its presence by a shuffling sound in the undergrowth. It had crawled onto a leaf and was basking in the sunlight, keeping itself warm. They are beautiful reptiles which display a variety of colours and patterns. Although usually dark brown, they can be a lighter shade of brown, olive or grey, to mention but a few colours. Their glossy backs are adorned with distinctive arrangements of stripes and spots. It is said that their appearance can be confused with that of newts, but once you see the speed at which they move, it is hard to believe that they can be anything other than a lizard! This little guy was far less bothered by our presence than the first, which meant that I was able to catch a few photos before he scurried off into the scrub.

Continuing our luck on the herpetile front, yesterday we attended a Wildlife Garden event at Wandlebury Country Park. Amongst activities such as bird box and insect hotel making, there was a herpetologist talking about the UK’s native snakes. He didn’t actually have any native snakes in his collection so he brought with him a gorgeous corn snake that he had rescued. Seeing as snakes have such a bad reputation, it was great to see both adults and children realising that they are actually beautiful creatures who are gentle as long as you are considerate and give them their personal space. Hopefully, some of the kids will have gained a lifelong interest and will go on to become the herpetologists of tomorrow.