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Dragons
in your Garden Amphibians and reptiles throughout
the year
Summer
Ponds in summer are full of all sorts of emerging life, as newly metamorphosed frogs, toads and newts make their first tentative steps on to land. On some days hundreds may emerge at once, radiating out across nearby gardens where they will remain for almost two years (sometimes longer), before becoming breeding adults.
Toads can be found in some gardens in summer. At night they may slowly walk round the garden looking for beetles and slugs, in log piles and under shrubs. During the day you might come across them beneath slabs, logs, bags of compost and plant pots. In very hot weather they may visit bog gardens, although toads can tolerate becoming a lot drier than frogs.
Summer is the time you're most likely to see grass snakes, when they can be found making hunting forays into gardens, particularly where amphibians abound. In early summer (June/July) you might also find grass snakes around compost heaps looking for warm places to lay their eggs. If this is the case, leave your compost heap largely untouched until late September, by which time the eggs will have hatched.
If you come across mass mortalities of amphibians (for example lots of
frogs dying for no apparent reason) during the warm summer months then
please take a look at our
amphibian disease pages for more information.
Your sightings help our research.
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