This rare toad is smaller than the familiar Common Toad.  Its legs are shorter and it tends to run rather than walk or hop, hence its former Latin name, Bufo calamita, which means “Running toad”. Its most obvious difference is, however, a thin but bold yellow stripe down the middle of the back.  In Britain the Natterjack is almost exclusively found confined to coastal sand dune systems, coastal grazing marshes and sandy heaths, though a single colony has been found on an upland fell site in Cumbria.  It likes sandy habitats because any ponds that form tend to be shallow and very warm and the Natterjack needs warm water in which to breed.  It is found on about 60 sites in Britain and occurs on a small number of sites in south-western Ireland.  Surprisingly some of the best areas for the Natterjack are in northern England and Scotland, notably on the sand dunes along the Merseyside coast, the coast on Cumbria and on the Scottish Solway.  The Natterjack used to be quite common on the heaths of Surrey and Hampshire and also around the coast of East Anglia but sadly only one or two colonies now survive.  Re-introduction programmes have now started to restore the range of this animal. 

The Natterjack gets its common name from the loud rasping call made by the male from the edge of a pond at night during the breeding season (April - July) in an effort to attract a mate. Spawn is laid in strings as with the Common Toad and the tadpoles are small and black.  They develop quickly and the yellow dorsal stripe is clearly visible on the young toadlets. 

Threatened by habitat loss and the scrubbing up of its open habitats (often caused by changes in management such as the reduction in grazing) and suffering from competition from the commoner amphibian species the Natterjack is threatened in Britain 

Because it is so threatened the Natterjack is strictly protected by British and European law which makes it an offence to:

• kill, injure or capture them;

• disturb them in any way

• damage or destroy their habitat

• possess them or sell or trade them in any way.

Copyright: HCT

Copyright: Stuart Harrup