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Butterfly Predators
 
Common Toad
Bufo bufo LINNAEUS, 1758
Family - BUFONIDAE
 
Sometimes a butterfly photography trip draws a complete blank, as happened to me on a trip to Stockbridge Down in April 2008.  Blackthorn blossom was in bloom and there was a profusion of violets, ground ivy and other nectar sources in flower, but overcast weather and a cold breeze precluded butterfly activity. Not to be outdone, I searched for other subjects, and came across several Common Toads, including this mating pair, enjoying a mud bath.
Toads spend the early stages of their development under water in ponds, ditches or large puddles, but once full grown they live entirely on land, and spend the daylight hours hidden away in holes amongst tree roots or under hedges.
At dusk they emerge to feed on small mobile prey including worms, beetles, woodlice, slugs, snails and caterpillars. They feed voraciously, consuming hundreds of insects in a single meal, and are major predators of nocturnal grass-feeding caterpillars including Satyrines ( Meadow Browns, Ringlets, Gatekeepers etc ) and Hesperiines ( Skippers ).

Common Toads enter hibernation in October and re-awaken in February or March of the following year. Both sexes then migrate over a period of several days until they find their original birth place - usually a deep pond or ditch.

 

During the migration the males mount the females, which carry them to the pond, where they swim about until the female locates a water plant. There she lays a long glutinous string of up to 7000 eggs which become entangled around the plant. The male fertilises them as they are laid.

After about a week, the developing young can be distinguished within the eggs. Two weeks later they wriggle free from the surrounding jelly, becoming free-swimming tadpoles. During the early stages of development the tadpoles feed on algae.

As they grow larger, the limbs develop and the tadpole takes on the appearance of a miniature toad. By this time it has changed it's feeding habits, moving from algae to plankton, and later to small crustaceans and invertebrates.

Toads secrete a toxic substance which protects them against certain predators, but crows and herons learn to disembowel them. Their greatest natural enemies are flies - the greenbottle fly Lucilia caesar lays it's eggs on the toads body, and the grubs crawl into the toad's nostrils, causing it great distress. Soon afterwards they begin to eat the eyes and brain, slowly killing the toad, and then consume the remaining flesh to leave just the skin and skeleton.

Toads which are lucky enough to escape this ghastly death can live for up to 10 years, but large numbers are killed by cars during their migrations. In many areas of Britain conservation groups fix temporary barriers by roadsides to divert the animals, or construct tunnels beneath roads so they can cross safely.

 

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