Key takeaways
- Frogs and toads have become much less common, so garden ponds really help
- Even a small pond with gently sloping sides can bring in breeding frogs and newts
- Never put fish in a wildlife pond, as they eat spawn and tadpoles
- Frog spawn comes in clumps, toad spawn in strings, and newts fold eggs into leaves
- Log piles, long grass and compost heaps give shelter on land all year
- Great crested newts are protected by law, so never disturb them
The common frog used to be everywhere in Britain, in every farm pond, ditch and village puddle. Not any more. Both frogs and toads have become much less common, with toads faring worst. Lost ponds, busy roads and disease have all played a part. The good news is that gardens can make a real difference. The Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust keeps an eye on numbers across the UK.
UK amphibian species at a glance
The UK has seven native amphibians: four frogs and toads, and three newts.
| Animal | How common | Where you’ll find it | In your garden? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Common frog | Widespread, but fewer than before | Ponds, damp grass, gardens | Very likely |
| Common toad | Much less common than it was | Woodland, gardens, farmland | Quite likely |
| Natterjack toad | Rare, protected | Coastal dunes and heaths | Very unlikely |
| Pool frog | Reintroduced, protected | A few sites in Norfolk | No |
| Smooth newt | Widespread | Ponds, gardens, grassland | Quite likely |
| Palmate newt | Widespread | Ponds, moorland, acid water | Sometimes |
| Great crested newt | Protected by law | Bigger ponds, clay soils | Now and then |
Most gardeners will meet common frogs, common toads and smooth newts. All three benefit from a few simple changes in the garden.
Frogs vs toads: how to tell the difference
It’s easy once you know what to look for.
Common frog: Smooth, damp skin. Olive-green to brown, often with dark blotches. Long back legs for hopping, and moves in quick leaps. Stays close to damp places and water. Lays spawn in clumps.
Common toad: Dry, warty skin. Brown to grey-brown, without blotches. Shorter legs, and walks rather than hops. Moves slowly and deliberately, with lovely golden eyes. Wanders further from water. Lays spawn in long strings.
Toads have glands behind their eyes that make a nasty-tasting liquid, so most predators leave them alone. A pet that mouths a toad will usually drool and drop it. If your pet seems unwell afterwards, call your vet.
| Common frog | Common toad | |
|---|---|---|
| Skin | Smooth, damp | Dry, warty |
| Colour | Green-brown, blotchy | Brown-grey, plain |
| How it moves | Hops | Walks |
| Back legs | Long | Short |
| Spawn | Clumps of jelly | Strings of jelly |
| Arrives at the pond | January to March | March to April |
| Distance from water | Usually close | Roams widely |
Frogs have smooth, damp, blotchy skin and long back legs for hopping. Toads are warty and plain, with golden eyes, and they walk rather than hop.
Building a wildlife pond for amphibians
Size and depth
A pond as small as 1m x 1m can be enough for frogs and smooth newts to breed. Bigger is better, but frogs have even bred in a washing-up bowl sunk into the ground with a ramp. If you can, make part of it about 60cm deep so it doesn’t freeze solid in winter.
Sloping sides
Gentle slopes are a must so animals can climb in and out. Steep-sided ponds trap frogs and can drown hedgehogs. Make at least one side a shallow pebbly beach for an easy way in and out.
Make at least one side a shallow pebbly beach. Gentle slopes let frogs, toads and hedgehogs climb in and out instead of getting trapped.
No fish
Never put fish in a wildlife pond. Goldfish, koi and even sticklebacks eat frog spawn, tadpoles and baby newts. A pond with fish will see hardly any tadpoles survive. If you want fish, give them their own pond well away from the wildlife one. This is the most important rule of all.
Planting
Plants give somewhere to lay eggs, food for tadpoles and places to hide. Our best pond plants guide has more on choosing them.
- Underwater: hornwort and water starwort keep the water healthy and give newts leaves to lay eggs on.
- Edges: marsh marigold, water forget-me-not and brooklime, planted in the shallows.
- Tall: flag iris and rushes give cover and a way out for tiny froglets.
- Floating: frogbit, a native plant, gives shade and helps keep algae down.
Avoid invasive plants like parrot’s feather, New Zealand pygmyweed and floating pennywort. They can escape from garden ponds and choke wild waters.
Positioning
Choose a spot with some shade. Full sun leads to green water and overheating, while full shade means too little plant growth. Near a hedge or under a light tree canopy is ideal. Avoid trees that drop lots of leaves, like horse chestnut, as rotting leaves feed algae.
Land habitat: what amphibians need on dry ground
Frogs, toads and newts actually spend most of the year on land. Frogs leave the pond after breeding and live in damp, sheltered spots. Toads can wander a long way from water and only pop back to their pond briefly to breed.
Log piles
A pile of untreated logs in a shady corner is the easiest shelter you can make. Stack logs of different sizes with gaps between them. Frogs, toads and newts hide in the cool, damp gaps in summer and sleep there through winter. Put it near the pond if you can.
Long grass and wild areas
Leave a patch of lawn to grow long. It’s a great hunting ground for frogs and toads, which eat slugs, snails, beetles and worms. A wildflower lawn does the same job and looks lovely. Even a small patch in a corner helps.
Compost heaps
A compost heap is warm and full of the creepy-crawlies frogs and toads like to eat, so make a compost heap if you haven’t already. Grass snakes sometimes lay their eggs in them too. Toads often hibernate deep inside, so check gently with a fork before turning the heap.
Stone and rock piles
A small rockery or pile of stones with gaps gives cool, damp shelter. Toads love them and often use the same spot year after year. Put one near the pond or along a hedgehog highway.
Damp corners
Frogs need moisture. In a dry garden, lay an old plank, a bit of old carpet or roofing felt on bare soil. Frogs will shelter underneath on hot days. Lift it gently when you check.
Identifying spawn and tadpoles
Frog spawn
Usually appears January to March, earliest in southern and town gardens. It’s laid in big floating clumps that swell up in the water over a few days. The tadpoles hatch a few weeks later.
Toad spawn
Appears March to April, a few weeks after frog spawn. It comes in long strings of jelly wound around underwater plants, so it’s easy to tell apart from frog spawn.
Newt eggs
March to June. Newts lay their eggs one at a time and fold each one inside an underwater leaf with their back feet. Look for neatly folded leaves on hornwort, water mint and other pond plants.
| Spawn | When | What it looks like | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frog | Jan-Mar | Clumps | Floating at the surface |
| Toad | Mar-Apr | Long strings | Wound around plants |
| Newt | Mar-Jun | Single eggs | Folded inside leaves |
Newts in UK gardens
Three newts turn up in UK gardens. All breed in ponds and spend much of the year on land.
Smooth newt is the most common. In the breeding season, males grow a wavy crest along the back and have a spotty orange belly. Females are plain brown. You’ll find them in most planted ponds without fish.
Palmate newt is about the same size, but breeding males have webbed back feet and a thin thread at the tip of the tail. It’s more common in the west and in hilly areas with acid water.
Great crested newt is the biggest, dark brown to black with a bright orange, black-spotted belly. Breeding males have a jagged crest. Great crested newts are protected by law. It’s an offence to catch, disturb or harm them, or damage the places they live. If you find them, leave them be, and get advice from Natural England before any building work.
Toad patrols
Every spring, toads head back to the pond where they were born, and many have to cross roads to get there. On mild, damp evenings from February to April, huge numbers are killed by traffic. Froglife’s Toads on Roads project organises volunteer toad patrols across the country.
How toad patrols work
Volunteers walk known crossing points on damp evenings, scoop toads off the road into buckets and carry them safely across. Some sites have toad tunnels under the road. Patrols usually go out from dusk on mild, wet nights.
How to help
- Contact Froglife or your local wildlife trust to find a patrol near you
- Wear high-vis clothing and take a torch
- Carry toads across in the direction they were heading, towards their pond
- Count them, as the numbers help with recording
- If you see toads crossing near your home, report the spot to Froglife
On mild, damp spring evenings, volunteers carry toads safely across roads to their breeding ponds. Always take them in the direction they were heading.
What NOT to do
These common mistakes harm frogs and toads rather than helping them.
Don’t move spawn between ponds. It can spread serious diseases that have killed lots of frogs across the UK. Let them find your pond themselves. They usually turn up within a year or two.
Don’t add fish. Even one goldfish can eat every tadpole and baby newt in a small pond. Never let unwanted pet fish go in a garden pond or in the wild.
Don’t net your pond. Frogs, hedgehogs and grass snakes get tangled in pond netting and drown.
Don’t over-clean the pond. A wildlife pond doesn’t need to be spotless. Algae, leaves and mud are food and shelter for tadpoles and pond creatures. Pull out excess blanket weed by hand in summer, and leave it on the edge overnight so any creatures can crawl back in.
Don’t use chemicals. Slug pellets, weedkillers and algae treatments can kill amphibians or their food. Frogs and toads are brilliant slug hunters. Use mulch and companion planting for pests instead.
Don’t disturb sleeping animals. Some frogs spend winter at the bottom of ponds, and others in damp leaf litter. Toads hide in log piles, compost heaps and under stones. Take care when digging, turning compost or moving logs from October to March.
Month-by-month amphibian calendar
| Month | What’s happening | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| January | Frogs may start heading to ponds in mild areas | If the pond stays frozen for days, melt a small hole with a pan of hot water. Never smash the ice |
| February | Frog spawn appears in southern gardens | Leave spawn alone. Join a toad patrol |
| March | Frog spawning at its peak. Toads on the move | Watch for toads on roads at dusk. Note when spawn appears |
| April | Toad spawn appears. Newts start breeding | Leave pond plants alone for newts to lay eggs on |
| May | Tadpoles growing. Newts still laying | Some algae is normal and feeds tadpoles |
| June | Tiny froglets leave the pond | Leave long grass near the pond for them to hide in |
| July | Toadlets leave the pond. Baby newts growing | Mow carefully near the pond. Check long grass before strimming |
| August | Most froglets and toadlets have moved onto land | Keep log piles and damp corners in place |
| September | Feeding up before winter | Leave fallen leaves in borders. Don’t tidy log piles |
| October | Hibernation starts. Last baby newts leave the pond | Stop any pond jobs until spring |
| November | Most are hibernating | Leave compost heaps, log piles and pond edges alone |
| December | Deep hibernation | Melt a hole in long-lasting ice, never smash it |
Creating an amphibian-friendly garden on a budget
You don’t need a big garden or much money. A small garden with the right features suits frogs, toads and newts perfectly.
For next to nothing: Build a log pile from prunings. Leave a corner of lawn uncut. Sink a shallow dish of water at ground level. Make small gaps under fences so animals can move about, which helps hedgehogs too.
A weekend job: Dig a mini pond with a preformed liner or a sunken washing-up bowl. Add some native pond plants. Build a bug hotel nearby, and start a compost heap in a quiet corner.
A bigger project: Dig a proper lined pond with a deep middle and sloping sides. Add a mix of native underwater and edge plants. Make several log piles and a stone pile, and plant a native hedge along one side for shelter.
The trick is joining it all up. Frogs and toads need to move between water and land, and between shelter and feeding spots. A pond in the middle of a short lawn offers far less than one linked to long grass, log piles and damp corners. Gaps under fences to your neighbours help too, and birds and bees benefit from joined-up gardens as well.
Related reading: give frogs and toads a frost-free winter hideaway with our guide to building a hibernaculum.
Frequently asked questions
How do I attract frogs to my garden?
Make a small wildlife pond with no fish. Even a 1m x 1m pond with gently sloping sides will often bring in frogs within a year or two. Add underwater plants like hornwort for egg-laying, and damp shelter nearby such as log piles, long grass and fallen leaves. Don’t bring spawn from other ponds, as it can spread disease.
What is the difference between a frog and a toad?
Frogs have smooth, damp skin and hop; toads have warty skin and walk. Frogs have long back legs, while toads have shorter ones. Frog spawn floats in clumps, and toad spawn comes in long strings around plants. Frogs stay near damp places, while toads wander further and cope with drier spots.
Should I put fish in my wildlife pond?
No, never put fish in a wildlife pond. Goldfish, koi and even sticklebacks eat frog spawn, tadpoles, baby newts and pond creatures. Very few tadpoles survive in a pond with fish. If you’d like fish too, give them a separate pond well away from the wildlife one.
Is it illegal to move frog spawn?
It isn’t illegal, but please don’t do it. Moving spawn between ponds can spread serious diseases. Spawn moved to a new pond often doesn’t do well anyway. Let frogs find your pond on their own. They usually arrive within a couple of years.
When do frogs spawn in the UK?
Usually in February and March across most of the UK. Southern and town ponds can see spawn as early as January in a mild winter. Toads spawn a little later, usually March to April. Newts breed from March to June, folding single eggs into underwater leaves.
What do I do if I find a toad on a road?
Gently carry it across in the direction it was heading. In spring, toads are on their way to their breeding pond. Wear gloves or wash your hands afterwards. If you spot a regular crossing point, report it to Froglife’s Toads on Roads project so volunteers can patrol it.
How can I help newts in my garden?
Give them a fish-free pond full of underwater plants. Newts fold their eggs into leaves, so hornwort and water starwort are ideal. On land, they need log piles, rockeries and long grass for shelter. A compost heap brings in the slugs and bugs that newts hunt at night.
Our team produces practical UK gardening guidance from source research, contributor records and established horticultural practice. Editorial standards are overseen by Matt W.
