Toad Spawn

After my previous post about my first ever sighting of frog spawn, you won't be surprised to hear that I haven't seen toad spawn either. That is, until now!

I went to Lacock Abbey on Monday for a wander and upon observing their pond I noticed that the frog spawn there was quite undeveloped compared to the frog spawn at The Courts.

Being only around 8 miles apart I found this quite strange and can only think the reasoning is that the pond at The Courts receives full sun, whereas the Lacock pond is shaded by some large trees.


I was surprised to see that toad spawn is laid in strings with embryos laying side by side. Research seems to show that the white embryos in the photos indicate an albino or, more likely, an unfertilised egg.

Hopefully I'll be back in time to see some further development before they break free from the spawn.

Date Photographed: 19/03/2012
Location: Lacock Abbey
Resources: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Common_Toad