Frogs or Toads
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Frogs or Toads

 
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Haggis Hunter
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 8:05 pm    Post subject: Frogs or Toads Reply with quote

I don't know the difference so maybe someone can tell me?

I got the following pictures of frogs (or maybe they're toads I dunno) whilst walking to the Unseen Heroes cache.





A piggy back - is the larger one the female?



Leap Frog gone wrong - or are they just having a ????????????


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Drumin
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 8:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Brilliant photos!

Common toad and, yes, they are at it!

Bit more info here: -

http://www.shef.ac.uk/aps/mbiolsci/kate-hutchence/abouttoads.html
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dunk090
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 19, 2010 11:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great pictures Dave. And one of my favourite caches too Cool
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Lodainn An Ear
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 19, 2010 7:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

HH is the new Toad-porn King! Laughing
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Jack Aubrey
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 8:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The "late spring" which seems to be affecting flowers is obviously not affecting toads. Five years ago almost to the day (on 19 March 2005) I recorded the same antics on the path to Aberlady Bay as you can see here
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greenygianty
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 6:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You can easily tell the difference between frogs and toads, as the latter are toadally different! Laughing
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Original A1
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 10:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great pics, and yes, it is the boy on top, doing what the birds and bees are also doing at this time of year.

Embarassed
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Jack Aubrey
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 6:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Monday (28th June) was the date of the toads' "return journey". I was out for a morning run and on my way back through the buckthorn "tunnel" found that the path was a carpet of tiny toadlets on their way from the lochan back into the links. It was very difficult to avoid stepping on dozens of the wee things with every footfall. They were presumably all crossing the path under the cover of the tunnel to avoid being frazzled by the sun, which was very hot even at 7.30 am.
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Jack Aubrey
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 12:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was out for a run on Saturday (10th March) at Aberfeldy and there were toads making their way west across the path towards the lochan for the annual tryst. A little earlier than previous years. But the real early arrivals have been gannets at the Bass Rock: the first sighting this year was Februry 18th. I can see why the toads know it has been a mild winter - they live here. But who told the gannets, who were along the West African coast?
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Original A1
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 1:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow - that is early.

I was lucky enough to be allowed to get close up and personal to them last year... some pics are at: http://www.alexinthewild.com/category/images-categories/bass-rock
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Jack Aubrey
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 8:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you for the link. There are some stunning pictures there! How many bears, polar or otherwise, have you met?? Some of the pictures of the polar bear swimming look like you could have reached out and stroked it.....
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 11:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Good question. I don't keep a running tally, although it was few enough to remember in the first trips:

Finland - 14

Spitsbergen - just 3 in 12 days

Greenland - 7, including 4 in 20 minutes

Russia - literally countless, because there were lots of little off-white blobs on hillsides (the brilliant white blobs were snowy owls, but obviously one had to work out perspective!). Some were much closer, including this, which must be the closest I'll ever come to a PB (just as well). Here's part of my account of that amazing day, 18th August:


Well Thursday 18th August has to go down as one of the best Arctic days ever. After breakfast, we boarded the zodiacs in lovely sunshine (which in itself makes such a difference) and went to land on a wide pebbly beach near Goose River. We had seen bears on the beach and two of them went scooting into the water at the far end as the zodiacs approached. But there were others, including a large male and two smaller males snoozing about quarter of a mile away. As we lined up and knelt down to keep our profiles low, one came out of the water and meandered along to where the others lay. They didn’t seem interested in being territorial, but were happy to laze around. This one carried on along and we spent quite some considerable time observing them, then getting gradually closer and closer until we were about 300 yards away, luckily still downwind of them. A good bank of pebbles afforded us a comfortable vantage point which was a lot easier than being on my knees all that time. Although the knee felt better, it didn’t need extra stress. If anyone had ever suggested that I'd ever be lying 300 yards from a group of polar bears without more than some wooden staffs and bear spray to protect me, I'd have thought they needed their head read. Perhaps I did!

Polar bears had been spotted along the coastline all day, so after lunch, although our primary objective was to view the birds on the cliffs at Cape Ptichiy Bazaar (Bazaar being equally applicable to a gathering of birds on cliffs as to a market in Russian!), we also wanted to view bears nearby. As we approached the beach to the south, one plunged into the water to our right whilst another one was spotted further up the hill. He had been lying down, but stood up to check us out and then scarpered. Jenny later said it was likely that he’d had a bad experience with humans.

We made our way round to the cliffs where I initially saw several tufted and one horned puffin, but they flew away, so it was mainly kittiwakes, guillemots and the odd glaucous gull which was much larger than the others. As we approached, Laurie spotted another polar bear perched on an impossible rock shelf in that it couldn’t climb up from there. She alerted the others but we spent lots more time looking at the birds, so I wondered whether it might have swum away by the time we finally got to it. However, although it had moved a little further along, it was swimming near where we’d spotted it and we got very close as it landed on another shelf and proceeded to reach up to try and eat some ice from an old drift by the cliffs. It continued this pattern of moving into the water and back up until it swam right past us about 10 metres away, completely unconcerned by our presence. The zodiac drivers had all stopped their boats and Laurie had allowed ours to get very close to the shore so that when she restarted the engine, there was a slightly hairy moment when the engine just spun some pebbles! But all was well in the end and we all managed to get some fantastic shots of the bear. By the evening debriefing, Adam announced that he and Aaron had counted 115 polar bears that day and they reckoned it was 146 in total on the trip, although it was later estimated to be 190. Whichever, still a tour record probably for anyone ever, notwithstanding the fact that most of them were tiddly little blobs on hillsides!


Not an experience I'll ever forget, that's for sure.
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