Spring, and the wildlife begins to return

To my surprise and delight, this small-to-medium sized toad appeared in the garden around 1pm. It was our first amphibian sighting of the year. 

David uploaded our Trailcam pictures yesterday and was thrilled to find several recent photographs of the resident hedgehog ... including the two below. Consequently, we have begun to put food out again. We also ensure that there is a dish of water.

 March (above)

 April (below).

 

 

Toad and Friends: This Week in Our Wild Garden

 

We looked out the window yesterday morning at about 10.30 ... and were greeted with the sight of this rather magnificent toad. This is the second time we have seen the toad on our patio this summer. 

 

I have decided to post the extremely poor record shot above as much as a note to myself as anything. 

The point is that I saw the Migrant hawker in the lower half of this image, and took a quick photo, little realising that there was actually a second dragonfly above (see black arrow). Result: the top dragonfly has been cut in two unnecessarily. It was only a record shot (a quick first image in case the creature flew away), and as such the quality doesn't worry me too much; but what concerns me is the fact that even after this photograph had been taken, I still failed to notice the second insect. I have been thinking about William Blake and his famous, albeit metaphorical, line about seeing a universe in a sand particle; well, it seems I need to sharpen up my powers of observation and concentration considerably.

Below: this is a better image of the top dragon (which in mind at the time was the lower and only one, so presumably by this time the lower one had flown), showing off the distinctive yellow golf-tee marking on S2, just below the wings:

 

 

The photo below shows one of our two Wasp spiders. You can see a white food parcel near the top and what will become a second once the spider has completed her task. I'm wondering if she has wrapped up a small bee.

And finally for now, my first garden sighting of a tiny 22-spot ladybird. The sun was in completely the wrong place and the insect was only about 3mm in length, but at least I was able to identify it from the poor-quality photo. 

There have not been many butterflies about this week in the garden; perhaps it has been too windy. Even so, we have logged Peacock, Red Admiral, Large and Small White, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Comma and Holly Blue. I wonder what the weekend will bring. I am still hoping to see my first Painted Lady of the season.

 

Garden Visitor of the Toad Kind

 

This magnificent toad gave us quite a surprise yesterday when we squeezed round the side of our house, looking for butterflies on the Buddleia. 

I suspect he or she possibly had an even greater surprise when we appeared, but s/he simply stayed still and looked up at us through those mysterious copper eyes. 

The photo below was taken by David as soon as he realised there was a toad by the step. This shot from above shows off the pale speckled skin on the legs, which I suppose adds to the creature's camouflage. 

I gather toads like to eat ants; only two days before, we had noticed a lot of large winged ants springing up from an anthill in our long grass. Toads also like beetles; I don't know if 4cm-long stag beetles would see these amphibians biting off more than they can chew!

 

2015 Scottish Odyssey (4) Toad in the Road

© David Gill (who got out of the car to take the photo and to ensure that the toad was safe!)

I couldn't resist posting this photo of a Common Toad! Isn't it a magnificent creature?

We saw the toad, along with a number of others, in the Kilmartin area, not far from Lochgilphead. It was a wet night. I love the contrasting and complementary speckles of the toad and the road!

2015 Scottish Odyssey (2) Amphibians at Culzean

The view from Culzean Castle in Ayrshire, Scotland

In my previous post I mentioned some of the mammals we encountered on our recent Scottish odyssey. This time I thought I would add a couple of amphibian sightings. We saw several toads (and a batch of tadpoles) during our time away, and I may post other photos in due course. 

You never know who may be lurking in a woodland garden ...

We knew the castle, lake and walled garden at NTS Culzean from a previous visit, but had not been to the designated wildlife garden before.

There were several signs about the place. I was particularly heartened to read the one below. 

The first creature we encountered was this Common Toad. I know that skin colours can differ in toads, but I had never seen one like this before. It was large and utterly magnificent. Stuart Babbs on Flicka suggests that a peaty environment may account for dark pigments in toads.

Has anyone else seen toads like this one? Alison Davies posted about black toads on iSpot and it was suggested that a dark colour absorbs more heat. The colour can be an advantage in dark surroundings ... like the frog box.

The photo below shows a newt (or is it still a large eft?). I have not been able to identify the exact species. 

I mentioned signs, and here in the photo below you can see another one, this time on the lid of the frog box. I have to confess at this point that both the black toad and the newt were in the box. We took a quick look and replaced the lid with great care. This kind of wildlife spotting felt a bit too easy - it was a bit like walking into the RSPB Minsmere Bittern Hide and seeing ... a Bittern!

You can see why we like the view from the castle! 

Seasonal First (5): Common Toad

We took an evening stroll at Orford ...

... and noticed a very speedy Common Toad scuttling across our path ...

... warts and all!

This is the first toad I have seen in 2012. I thought it was a medium-sized frog initially, but as soon as the photo was uploaded, you could see the warty skin immediately.