Field Guide
🦎
Common Toad
Bufo bufo
1 photo
·1 photographer
·Uncommon · 10 ptsWarty, land-living toad; travels to ancestral ponds to breed.
1 community photo of Common Toad on Things With Wings. Top-rated shots often use around 1/60ss shutter, 6.86mm.
Species Profile
Green List (not threatened; relatively common and stable in the UK)
- Lifespan
- 10–12 years in the wild; up to 40 years in captivity
- Size & Weight
- 8–15 cm body length; 0.5–2.5 kg (females larger than males)
- Habitat
- Grasslands, woodlands, hedgerows, and gardens with access to ponds or ditches for breeding; tolerates dry conditions and can be found far from water outside breeding season.
- UK Distribution
- Found throughout mainland Britain and Wales, absent from Ireland and most Scottish islands. Resident year-round; returns to breeding ponds in late winter and early spring.
- Diet
- Carnivorous; feeds on invertebrates including insects, slugs, snails, spiders, earthworms, and small vertebrates such as newts and slow worms.
- Prey
- Beetles, ants, flies, earthworms, slugs, snails, small lizards, and juvenile newts
- Predators
- Grass snakes, hedgehogs, badgers, foxes, herons, and crows; tadpoles eaten by dragonfly nymphs and aquatic insects
- Mating Season
- February to April
- Breeding
- Females lay long strings of spawn containing 5,000–12,000 eggs in ponds; eggs hatch within 3–12 days depending on temperature; tadpoles metamorphose within 2–3 months.
- Behaviour
- Mainly nocturnal and solitary; hunts by walking and waiting, using a sticky tongue to capture prey. Produces toxic secretions from skin glands as defence against predators; may inflate body to appear larger when threatened.
- •Common toads can survive freezing during winter hibernation and thaw unharmed in spring
- •They secrete bufotoxins (bufadienolides) from their skin, toxic enough to kill many predators including dogs
- •Male toads amplify mating calls by inflating vocal sacs; males often outnumber females at breeding ponds, leading to intense competition
- •Thousands of toads undertake annual migrations to traditional breeding ponds, crossing roads where many are killed by traffic
- •Unlike frogs, toads have dry, warty skin and prefer terrestrial habitats; they return to water only to breed
Community Sightings by Month
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Camera Settings (top photos)
Shutter
1/60ss
ISO Range
200
Aperture
f/f/1.78
Focal Length
6.86mm
