Toads scale fences to get to reedbeds

Spring is in the air at Arundel Wetland Centre and the ponds and ditches have become toad-aly romantic hotspots.
The Arundel Wetland Centre grounds team rescues toads found scaling the perimeter fence. Picture: Paul StevensThe Arundel Wetland Centre grounds team rescues toads found scaling the perimeter fence. Picture: Paul Stevens
The Arundel Wetland Centre grounds team rescues toads found scaling the perimeter fence. Picture: Paul Stevens

Toads return to the water where they were spawned to breed the next generation.

The wetland centre had a mass emergence of toadlets three years ago and it seems many survivors have matured and returned this spring.

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Paul Stevens, grounds manager, said: “Our grounds team have been rescuing toads that have been climbing the perimeter fences and placing the toads safely in the reedbeds.”

Toads can travel many miles to get to their breeding sites. In a mating ball, the males toads try to wrestle each other off a female in competition to be the one to fertilise the eggs.

The male grasps the female with its front legs and hangs on. Male toads fertilise the eggs as the female is laying them in the water.

Arundel Wetland Centre, in Mill Road, Arundel, is open seven days a week from 9.30am to 4.30pm.

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