 |
  | ||||||
| Sefton Coast Partnership | Shoreline Management | Nature and Wildlife | Coastal Heritage | Visiting the Coast | Students and Teachers | Coastlines | |
|
Summer 1997
The Natterjack ToadArticle by David Simpson, Sefton Coast Life Project The name ‘Natterjack’, is known to most local residents along the Sefton Coast, although to many it is just the name of a pub, shop or club. Others may have seen its picture on the signs and way markers through the dunes. But how many have actually seen a genuine Natterjack? Today, on a spring walk in the dunes, one is more likely to see one of the Natterjack's common cousins, the Common Frog or the Common Toad. The Natterjack is our rarest native amphibian and arguably the most fascinating. It is a small olive-green toad rarely longer than 70mm. Its various names give abundant clues as to its markings and habits. The ‘Natter’ of Natterjack probably refers to its loud reeling croak. In Spain it is the ‘Running Toad’, whilst the Latin scientific name, Bufo Calamita translates as the ‘Reed’ or ‘Rush Toad’, suggesting its favourite breeding habitat. The German, Dutch and Polish names refer to the narrow yellow line which passes down the toad's back and in East Anglia it is called ‘Goldenback’. In Sefton the species has been called the ‘Birkdale Nightingale’ or ‘Bootle Organ’ in a fanciful reference to the males song. Mobile sand dunes are ideal Natterjack habitat. It is the only British amphibian adapted to tolerate such harsh conditions. The Natterjack is largely nocturnal and as daylight approaches it burrows into the sand to escape the heat and drought of the day. It lays spawn in temporary pools which are dry by mid-summer. Until the middle of the 19th century, little threatened the huge population on the Sefton Coast which must have then numbered in the thousands. Since then a large majority of its habitat has been lost through building development, afforestation, drainage and scrub invasion. With this change in habitat common amphibians, particular the Common Toad, have ousted the Natterjack from large areas of the dunes. The present population is restricted to a narrow strip of seaward dunes and may have dropped below a thousand. In recent years the situation has been exacerbated by the lack of rainfall which has left most of their breeding pools dry. A similar story of decline has been recorded at other British dune and heathland colonies. The Natterjack was once found on dunes and marshes all around the north-west coast of England, East Anglia and North Wales as well as the heathlands of central and southern England. Today native populations are extinct in Wales, the Wirral and all except one site in the central and southern heathlands. Today the Natterjack is endangered and given special protection by UK and European legislation. These are the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Conservation (Natural Habitats & c.) Regulations 1994 and the European Union’s Habitat and Species Directive of 1992. It also derives protection from the Council of Europe’s Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (the ‘Bern Convention’) 1979. However legislation alone is not sufficient to conserve rare species like the Natterjack. Active management by the local dune managers, guided by the English Nature Natterjack Recovery Programme and the local Sefton Strategy, aim to increase the local populations and return the species to its former haunts across the Sefton Coast. Actions as a result of this strategy include the provision of a suite of special breeding pools along the coast, clearance of Sea Buckthorn and other scrub invading the Natterjacks open dune habitat, and the introduction of mowing and grazing to create suitable short turf habitat for the ‘Running Toad’.
|
|
