Izzy's UEA Ecology blog

One of only 7 amphibian species native to the UK, the common toad ( Bufo bufo ) is widespread but undergoing severe declines. Their distribution spans the entirety of mainland Britain and some islands, but they are not present in Ireland. Unlike frogs, common toads don't live in exclusively wet habitat, and can be found in woodland, gardens, hedgerows and tussocky grassland. They create shallow burrows they return to for the day after foraging in darkness. Their diet is varied and can comprise of insect larvae, worms, slugs and sometimes even small grass snakes, slow worms and harvest mice. From November to February common toads hibernate either in log piles, leaf litter or their burrows. Common toads have copper-coloured eyes and warty skin which can vary in colour from dark brown to grey, olive green, or sandy coloured.  Though they don't always live near water year-round, toads do need to return to a water body to breed. Each year common toads migrate back to their spawning ...

Seen by many as wasted space, scrubland can actually harbour many species and have high conservation value. A variety of thorny and prickly plants can make up scrub, including gorse, hawthorn and blackthorn. One species common in scrub across the country is bramble ( Rubus fructicosus ). This species is often thought of as a nuisance due to its voracious growth habit, but is also valued for its plentiful berries which ripen in summer.  Brambles are in the Rosaceae family and its flowers have the typical family traits of 5 petals and many stamens. They can be white or pink. The success of brambles in colonizing new areas is party due to its asexual vegetative reproduction - new shoots grow from the rootstock, advancing the bramble cover. Each shoot (or cane) is biennial - they grow in their first year, flower and fruit the following year, then die back. This growth habit allows bramble scrub to grow in height, as new canes can grow over the framework of dead ones from previous ...