Basking

European toad / common toad (Bufo bufo).

A beautiful sunny afternoon and an interesting lunchtime wander. We stopped at the heron ponds in the meadow to check on the tadpoles (that corner of the pond is almost completely black with a mass of wriggling tadpoles. I am amazed that so many survived when the spawn was frozen under snow for a few days) and saw that the toads have arrived too. They were basking in the sun and trying to mate, though they were few females present. A biologist and her family came by to check on the toads as this is the only place in Milton Keynes where they are found, she thinks. The toads are losing their nearby foraging habitats as more housing in being built in the area. She also showed us some newt eggs which are laid on the underside of submerged leaves. The newt lays a single egg on the leaf and then curls the leaf under and seals the tip to the base to protect the egg. So I got some lovely photos in the sun and an unexpected zoology lesson -- quite a result for a quick wander. [And oddly, I've met the biologist before, many miles away. I don't think she recognised me but I worked at a summer school she was running about 15 years ago, before I moved here!]