Ponds are a hotspot for Biodiversity and can be either permanent or seasonal. It is not just the pond that is important for wildlife, the surrounding vegetation is an essential element of this habitat.
Ponds, vital wetland ecosystems, have faced significant drainage in recent years, overlooking their crucial role in supporting wildlife. Among the beneficiaries, frogs stand out, laying thousands of eggs that serve as a vital food source for various predators, including ducks, foxes, badgers, birds, fish, and larvae of species like dragonflies and diving beetles.
Is it very easy to create a pond as it is essentially a hole in the ground filled with water. If you intend to create your own Pond, we encourage you to add liner at the bottom of it as this will help keep water in it throughout the year. When adding plants check your local area for native’s species that are slow to spread and allow it to fill with rain water as tap water contains chemicals that will harm bacteria that are essential for a pond’s habitat.
Ireland has 3 species of Amphibians, the Common Frog (Rana temporaria), the Smooth Newt (Triturus vulgaris) and the Natterjack Toad (Epidalea calamita). Amphibians are animals that require a body of water to spawn in as their eggs do not have a hard shell which would keep moisture in. The lungs of young amphibians do not develop for several weeks after hatching so they must rely on their gills to absorb oxygen.
As they grow, they develop lungs and start to make their way out of the water. The vegetation beside spawning areas is just as vital for them as the pond they started life in. for newts and frogs’ tall grasses and flowers provide cover from predators, blocks the sun and keeps the ground cool and provide insects for them to eat. The Natterjack however prefers short grasses around its pond. The Frog is the most recognised Amphibian in Ireland, many people have kept frogs to watch them to develop. Frogs can lay up to couple of thousand eggs easy every Spring. Most frogs spawn do not make it to full maturity being a food source for a variety of animals such Ducks, Foxes, Badgers, Herons, Birds, Fish and Insects such as Dragonflies and Diving Beetles.
A Newt is a very shy animal and hard to spot. They are often confused as Lizards however they do not have scales. Not as well known or popular as frogs as they do not lay huge clumps of spawns. Newts prefer to lay on a leaf of an aquatic plant and then wrap the leaf around providing cover from predators.
The Natterjack Toad is the rarest of our three amphibian species and is our only toad species. Unfortunately, the range of these toads has shrank from being present all over Kerry to just a few sites. In Ireland, they are mainly in Co. Kerry and Co. Wexford. The most famous is at Castlegregory, where they make their home on the golf course. More than 500 Natterjack Toads have been released into Kerry sand dunes with 1,000 natterjack toads were bred in captivity in Dingle Oceanworld last year. During spring they can be heard croaking to find a mate. These toads are picky in what ponds they use to spawn preferring ponds that dry out during the summer as this prevents a build-up of predators. They also prefer low vegetation to hunt in.
It is very much thanks to the National Parks & Wildlife Services and local farmers that the population of these amphibians has started to recover.
We thank you for taking the time to read about Irish Amphibians and that you will do all you can for our endangered native animals.
