Wildlife farm host to first Natterjack toad in region for century, writes REG LITTLE

One of Britain's rarest toad species has been reintroduced to Oxfordshire. On sandy heathland near Marcham, the sound of the Natterjacks can be heard for the first time in a century.

For as well as being exceptionally rare, they also happen to be the noisiest amphibians in Europe, who sound surprisingly similar to ducks.

They were brought to Andrew Iles's farm as tadpoles about three years ago by licensed herpetologists, with the farm's unusually sandy soil offering perfect conditions for Natterjacks.

Now it has emerged that the toads have bred successfully, with about five grown males seen in the specially created ponds.

The land was doubly suitable because of the presence of numerous rabbit warrens. For the toads have an ingenious way of coping with the threat from predators.

After spawning, the adults shepherd the toadlets into rabbit holes until they are old enough to look after themselves. While they might not yet be competing with the rabbits on the breeding front yet, it seems the warrens offer plentiful supplies of insects for the young toads.

Natterjacks are protected under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act. Their population was affected by the steady decline in heathland over the last 25 years.

Mr Iles, farm manager of Sheepstead Farm, has declined to give the exact location of the toads for fear of theft.

"We are afraid of toad trophy hunters," he declared. "These are the kind of people who would want to put them in their ponds at home to have something to talk about. But taking them would effectively mean killing them."

Part of the 730-acre farm has been put in a Countryside Stewardship Scheme to switch arable land back to heathland.

Mr Iles says he is able to call upon experts to look after the toads. The recent warm weather, however, has led to a serious setback, leading to concern about the level of oxygen in one of the ponds.

"We're lucky to have almost everything from desert to wetland on the farm."

The Natterjack toad has suffered a substantial decline in numbers and range during the last century due to a reduction in its habitats such as heathland, sand dune and upper saltmarsh.

Excluding translocation sites where populations have been recently re-established, the species can be found at four natural sites in Scotland and 35 in England, but became extinct in Wales. It has now been introduced to 13 sites, including one in Wales.

Natterjack's can live for 12-15 years, grow to about eight centimetres, have fairly flattened bodies with short limbs and feet that are not completely webbed. It means that they are unable to leap very far and usually only do so as a startle response, but they are able to run like a lizard.

The toads also have the ability to darken or lighten the colour of their skin in order to camouflage themselves. But they are also surprisingly poor swimmers and are known to drown quickly in deep water if they cannot get ashore.

Adults feed on insects, particularly moths, as well as spiders, woodlice, snails and worms. The tadpoles feed on algae and vegetation until they are about 38 days old when they begin to feed on animal tissue.

Male toads arrive at the breeding sites first, which are usually in very shallow water and are often brackish. The females spawn a string of eggs that sit in a double strand and then settle into a single strand after a couple of days.

They may lay 3,000 to 4,000 eggs, which hatch within five to eight days. The tadpoles are the smallest of all European tadpoles.

This week is the Royal Entomological Society's National Insect Week and Sheepstead Farm is being held up by Defra as a success story, bringing in bug lovers and entomological experts from around the county.

Its Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) features are funded by Defra through the Rural Development Service (RDS).

The diversity of species has become a matter of great interest to Thames Valley Environmental Record Centre and the former Curator of Natural Sciences at Oxfordshire County Council, John Campbell, who often surveys the site.

The sandy soil is similar to the bracklands of East Anglia, which form one of the rarest habitats in Britain and has been of interest for entomologists since the 1900s.

Among the rare insects identified are Hairy Legged Mining Bees, Scarlet Tiger Moths, Bloody Cranesbill Weevils, Jewel Beetles, and other species including Creeping Thistle Lacebugs, Assassin Bugs, and the Timothy Grassbug.

John Campbell said: "The number of notable species to be found on the site is really tremendously high. I have been surveying this fascinating site for seven years and each year we find more species.

"Since the heathland reversion there has been an amazing speed of colonisation. We're beginning to find some of the same species that were surveyed in the 1900s. The very localised and specialist habitat has meant that we have been able to pick up a great deal of valuable data."

A flower restoration project on the 160-acre water meadow is already under way. The farm also supports mixed farming, with ewes grazing the heathland.