Wet spring and warm June may have benefited Ireland's 'boom-or-bust' natterjack toad
Some 200 Natterjack toadlets were released today onto a local farm in Castlegregory, Co Kerry, as part of a joint project between the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and Fota Wildlife Park, which aims to bring this endangered species back to its former home. The project has to date released over 9,000 toadlets in Co Kerry. Picture: Valerie O'Sullivan
This year’s wet spring and even the extreme warm temperatures in June are thought to have favoured Ireland’s only native toad — the natterjack.
Some 200 tiny toadlets, bred in captivity in Fota Island Wildlife Park from collected tadpoles were released on Tuesday back into ponds on a farm in Castlegregory.
The distinctive striped natterjack toad (Bufo calamita), which runs rather than hops, is under threat from changing agricultural practices including land reclamation as well as climate change.
Over the past 10 years, the natterjack toad project — run in collaboration with the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), local farmers, and the Dingle Aquarium — has seen shallow ponds dug in farms in the Castelmaine Harbour and Castlegregory area where the toad was once plentiful.
There are thought to be just 10,000 native toads now in the area.
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The breeding of toadlets in captivity began seven years ago as part of the rescue project. It involves NPWS collecting spawn and eggs from ponds and bringing them to Fota and Dingle Aquarium and then rearing them in special holding tanks.
In the hot conditions of late May and June, the collecting was accelerated to rescue the tadpoles as the ponds dried up. The captive breeding project has been shown to reduce their mortality rate to as low as 25%, the NPWS said.
Dr Ferdia Marnell of the NPWS toad project said altogether this year, the number of toadlets released in Co. Kerry is 1600. Over 9,000 natterjack toadlets bred in captivity have been released over the past seven years under the captive breeding programme.
"Unlike last year, this year the weather has worked in favour of the natterjack, with a wet spring followed by warm temperatures in June. We saw the successful metamorphosis of toadlets in high numbers around Castlegregory.
Today we released more natterjack toadlets back to the Kingdom!
— National Parks and Wildlife Service (@NPWSIreland) August 8, 2023
Over 9,000 toadlets have been released over the past seven years through this joint project with @fotawildlife and community partners around Castlegregory. pic.twitter.com/sfB2O27Pct
"This is good news for a boom-or-bust species like the natterjack. We hope to see this year’s toadlets return here to breed over the coming years and reclaim their former home," Dr Marnell said.
Strings of toad eggs are visible along the dunes in May and June but many do not reach metamorphosis stage because ponds dry out or there are predators about.
The native toads — one of only three amphibians on this island — are part of the native food web keeping down pests like mosquitoes and are an important part of both the aquatic and land environments, as they are amphibians, Dr Marnell said.
The fine weather in June may in fact have spurred the eggs and tadpoles to develop quicker, he said. Some 200 were released into the ponds of Casltegregory organic farmer Tom Reidy.
The sandy farm with access to the sea and around 1.5 km from Castlegregory golf course is an important breeding area for the toad and will be part of a new results-based scheme that will see closer monitoring and collaboration with the NPWS.
The ponds are shallow so they can dry out but older ponds in particular require a lot of cleaning and maintenance and the sward surrounding them is best grazed. It is of huge interest to farmers and to farms like his at Mountain Bay Lodge which hosts guests during the summer.
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