Rise and shine natterjacks: Wilder, Wetter Caerlaverock Diaries no. 10
2025 is going extremely quickly so far - we find ourselves in April ahead of the natterjack toads emerging from hibernation and starting their breeding season. It could be any day now depending on what the weather does. This fussy species like ephemeral pools which dry out and re-wet depending on the time of year and amount of rain. They also like pools with low vegetation levels that are warm and have a degree of salinity.
With this in mind, you can see how the weather can really affect the breeding success of this species. If there’s not enough rainfall the pools dry out before the toadlets can emerge. What we’re trying to do through the Wilder, Wetter Caerlaverock project is help the species be more climate resilient and therefore resilient to rising sea levels and more unexpected weather. So how do we do that? Well, we’re creating new ponds.
In the area that we’re improving for natterjacks, we have so far created 15 new breeding ponds in places near to ponds that already have successfully breeding natterjacks, trying to spread them further inland. Before we could get the ponds created we had to reduce the levels of gorse in the area. Clearing the gorse also has the benefit of opening up the compartment, creating more grassland habitat and lowering the density of the scrub by roughly 20%, all being beneficial to natterjack toad requirements. There’s been a large amount of work done over the past couple of years by staff, volunteers and contractors and this compartment we lovingly call 'Gorsefields' is really seeing the benefits of the work now and looking more like viable natterjack toad habitat.
Area where gorse has been cleared
New scrape waiting to be filled
So far natterjack toads haven’t bred in our new ponds but this isn’t surprising as you don’t always see instant result in habitat conservation. Nevertheless some of our new ponds are that little bit older and look perfect for natterjacks! We’re really excited to see if the natterjacks use Gorsefields this season and what else appears this summer.
Words and pictures by Jake Goodwin
Feature image illustrates the gorse clearance and pond creation work that has gone on in Gorsefields. You can see the Saltcot Merse Observatory in the top right corner, the turning circle on the left and track leading to it and the saltmarsh behind.
