Toad

How to recognise it

Squat, warty, walks rather than hops. Sits still in damp shade by day and hunts at night.

Mistaken for

Handled roughly or moved out of the garden, when it is one of the most effective slug predators you can have.

What it eats

Slugs and snails, Cutworm, Ants, Vine weevil

How to attract it

Damp shade, a log pile, an upturned cracked pot, and above all a pond or even a sunken bowl of water with a sloped exit.

Plants that help

Not recorded — the field is blank rather than guessed.

Lifecycle

Long-lived - a toad can patrol the same garden for a decade. Breeds in water in early spring.

Months: March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October

The thing people get wrong

One toad eats thousands of slugs and insects a year and asks for nothing but a damp hiding place. If you build one water feature in the garden, a shallow pond with a gently sloping side pays for itself in slug control alone.