Knots of Toads

Visiting Heronry Pond on 31st May, at the west end next to the culvert which carries overflow from the Shoulder of Mutton, I saw that there were hundreds - possibly thousands - of small toads clusterd together into two heaps amongst vegetation on the pond's concrete surrounds.

Some were making their way into the pond, and some - it seemed - were coming out of the culvert. This, though may have just been that some had inadvertantly gone in there. In the water there were hundreds more visible on the surface of the water and amongst the vegetation that makes this part of the Heronry Pond so good for wildlife.

This was evidently a natural occurence - that is to say they hadn't been dumped there - but I'm uncertain whether this was for mutual protection, warmth, to stay moist or for some other reason. I have never seen anything like it, although it reminded me of Seamus Heaney's poem "Death of a Naturalist". My experience wasn't quite as awful as the poem recounts, and I've decided to stay a naturalist, but it was certainly mildly disconcerting. Jennifer Charter - whom I called to tell her of this spectacle - had never seen anything like it either, but called me a day or two later to say that the same phenomena had been mentioned at the "Springwatch" base in Wales.

I still haven't heard an explanation of this wildlife-happening, but have managed to discover that a group of toads is called a knot or a lump; images from the video below may show that these collective terms are well-deserved!

Paul Ferris, 8th June 2011