Common toads found living in trees

[Brian G Turner]

I love amphibians, but I didn't know this - and, apparently, neither did scientists! - that common toads routinely climb trees to find places to shelter:

Toads surprise scientists by climbing trees in UK woodlands

Volunteers surveying dormice and bats in trees have made the unexpected discovery of over fifty common toads in nest boxes and tree cavities at least 1.5 meters high

phys.org

Volunteers surveying dormice and bats in trees have made the unexpected discovery of over fifty common toads in nest boxes and tree cavities at least 1.5 meters high.

The surprising discovery was made during a survey to search for hazel dormice and bats as part of the National Dormouse Monitoring Program and the Bat Tree Habitat Key project

While 50 records is not a huge number, it is comparable to records of other animals known to use trees regularly—such as blue tits. This suggests that toads spend more time in trees than was previously thought.

 

[Pyan]

Surprising, but there again, in my experience, nature always surprises. This reminds me of the ducks that nest in trees, but eventually the ducklings have to get down...

BBC Springwatch - Mandarin ducklings fledge the nest

 

[farntfar]

We have loads of toads near us, but they seem to live in ponds. You rarely see them(*), so they could be in the trees around the ponds.
They make such a racket.

Frogs, however, you startle as they crouch in little puddles on the footpaths. With the hot weather they get stuck in an ever decreasing puddle, with no nearby pond to run to. (hop!)

 

[Dave]

Interesting! Toads and Frogs only really need ponds to spawn in. They have to keep damp, but they can do that well away from a pond in log piles and under vegetation, and also in trees. There have been a great deal of ponds filled in over the last Century, but many parks and private gardens are now adding them. Ponds are also vital for insects, birds and other wildlife. However, the thing I'm taking away from this is that figures show a much bigger decline in toads than in frogs, but maybe those figures need to be revised if the monitors recording them were not looking in the right places?

 

[Danny McG]