Scotland's Amphibians

There are six amphibian species native to Scotland - great crested, smooth and palmate newts, common frog, common and natterjack toads.

Amphibians spend most of their year on land but must return to water to breed as their early life is spent as aquatic tadpoles. Because of the need to keep their skin moist, amphibians have to live in damp places like wet grassland or under fallen logs or leaf litter. Amphibians hunt insects and other small creatures for food, though very young tadpoles feed on pond plants. Frogs and toads catch insects with their long sticky tongues. 

The life cycle of frogs and toads should be a part of every child's heritage: the eggs are laid as spawn in the early spring.  Tadpoles soon emerge to swim about till their legs grow, their tails shrink and they leave the pond as tiny adults sometimes in huge numbers after summer rain. In the mountains you can still find spawn in June in pools near snowbeds.  The life cycle of newt is similar but eggs are laid and individually stuck to plants.  The young are like mini newts but with frilly gills to absorb oxygen from the water. 

Amphibians are believed to be declining in lowland Britain due to habitat loss and change.  All are protected by law to some degree. 

Rare species

Two of Scotland's amphibian species are specially protected under European legislation - the great crested newt and the natterjack toad. They cannot be killed nor their habitat destroyed. Any development which might threaten their habitat must be carefully considered and steps taken to make provision for the animals carried out under licence.

The great crested newt is rare right across Europe because of damage to its habitat. Though it spends most of its life on land, hunting small prey in damp grassland or leaf litter, it must return to small ponds to breed and small ponds have disappeared from the landscape because of changes in farming - for example, because horses are not used anymore there is no need for water for them to drink. It has a patchy distribution in rural south Scotland and around Inverness but also occurs across the central belt where it is often threatened by industrial or building development.

The natterjack toad is our rarest amphibian, occurring in only a handful of sites on the south coast in Dumfriesshire. The Natterjack is a very active species which is adapted to live on open sandy heaths and coastal grassland where it hunts at night by running after prey rather than sitting in ambush like frogs and common toads. Unlike other British amphibians it can dig its own burrow in the sand to avoid the heat of the day. It is found near the coast because of this need to live in open sandy habitat rather than any link to salt water.