Morse toad

It has been a while since we last posted a project update, mainly due to other commitments taking priority. This has not been helped by the weird spring and summer we had, which was not productive for midwife toad surveys. The cold start to the year meant that midwife toads were not active until later in the year, which was further hampered by the extended dry period we all experienced. Despite this, we have still had some successes this year. I would like to take the time now to share them all with you in this quick update. First off, we were able to sample one new population this year in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. We were given access to the garden by the daughter of a late supporter of this project, which we have now decided to dedicate to her. As usual, five toads were found and swabbed so that their DNA could be sequenced, although many more toads were present within the surrounding gardens.

 

The look a midwife toad gives you immediately after you have taken a buccal swab. This individual is from the Aylesbury population. Photo credit: Bethan Cowley

We have also been attempting to survey for the toads in Huntingdon and Kent, where they have been heard calling. So far, we have not had any luck in finding any midwife toads for ourselves at these locations, but we are pretty certain they are present in both towns. Thankfully, the residents have a combination of photographic and audio evidence that proves this. It is just a shame that the toads have never played ball while we have been visiting. Shortly after we left the Huntingdon population after trying to locate the toads for some time, one of the local residents sent us a photo of the toad they found on their decking (see below). It can be infuriating when the midwife toads seem to tease us like this, but we will find them, and swab them. There are just a handful of additional key populations we need to sample before we can complete our analysis. Thank you to everyone for their patience regarding the project, and the conditions over the past couple of years that have hampered our progress within the timeframe we originally envisioned.

 

One of the Huntingdon midwife toads that came out to play after we left for the night. Photo credit: Hayley Ward.

There is some more good news though! Earlier on this year, a small number of our observations of deformities within midwife toads were published in the Herpetological Bulletin. We are always happy to help contribute to the ongoing knowledge surrounding the ecology of this species, and its interactions with our native species. Despite midwife toads co-existing with a number of your native amphibians, we have found an unusually high occurrence of limb deformities in their populations. You can read more about them at the attached PDF at the bottom of this page.

I know I have said this a few times now, but hopefully we can finally get things wrapped up come the spring time! Watch out midwife toads, we are coming for you!