In Ireland, natterjack toads occur in coastal dunes, lowland heath-bog systems and in wet fields near the sea. They require warm, shallow pools for breeding, and their natural range is restricted to the coastal zones of Castlemaine Harbour and Castlegregory in Co Kerry.

People may confuse the natterjack toad with the common frog, another amphibian found in Ireland, but there are a number of ways to distinguish between them. As the natterjack toad has much shorter legs than the frog, it crawls or runs rather than hopping. The natterjack toad also has a distinctive yellow stripe along the length of its back, which isn’t present on the frog.

Natterjacks are mainly nocturnal, and in the spring, males will sing at night to attract a female - their calls can be heard from more than 1 mile away. During the day, the toads burrow into the sandy soil, or hide under stones or other debris.

Toad spawn looks very different to frog spawn, as it is laid in long strings, with one row of eggs per string. Each string may hold up to 2,000 eggs.

The natterjack toad's lifespan is on average 7-8 years, though females may live up to 13 years.

Though they are numerous in other areas, the natterjack toad is considered to be endangered in Ireland, with fewer than 10,000 thought to remain here. They are protected under the EU Habitats Directive, and the Irish Wildlife Act.

The main driver of this species decline in Ireland is habitat loss, as a result of coastal erosion, land-use changes, and agricultural intensification. Climate change is affecting temperature and rainfall patterns, and because of this, the shallow ponds that the toads breed in are drying up too early for the toadlets to survive.

In Ireland, we have three native amphibians (animals that can live both in and out of water) - the common frog (Rana temporaria), the smooth newt (Triturus vulgaris) and the natterjack toad.

Both the tadpole and the adult toads produce a toxic chemical from glands in their skin, meaning that they don’t have many natural predators.

As part of a joint project between Fota Wildlife Park, OceanWorld Dingle, and the National Parks and Wildlife Service, staff from NPWS collect toad spawn and tadpoles from ponds in the wild, where mortality rates can be as high as 90%. They transport them to Fota where they are carefully looked after in special holding tanks over the summer months. Following metamorphosis, the resulting toadlets are then returned to the species’ native range in Kerry.

To date, Fota has released 13,000 natterjack toadlets into the wild.