Damien Enright: Hopping along through memories of toads in Japan

There are probably more toads surviving in Tokyo, a city of 14m people, than in all our green and often-sodden land

Ireland has 4,000 natterjacks. Picture: Valerie O'Sullivan

I WONDERED how our only native toads, the rare and vulnerable natterjacks, were managing in their Castlemaine Harbour, Kerry, habitats in last week’s scorching weather. The adults were, perhaps, burying themselves deep in the sand.

In July last year, 1,000 toadlets were captured and reared in ponds in Dingle Aquarium and Fota when their natal pools threatened to dry up. I was unable to reach anybody at South Western Region National Parks and Wildlife Service to ask if such measures were again necessary this July. Perhaps all staff were out on the dunes rescuing half-inch-long toadlets from desiccation.