Wildlife garden
Frogs, toads and newts: a garden for amphibians
You help frogs, toads and newts with a pond without fish and with a gently sloping edge, with damp hiding places such as a dead hedge, a pile of stones or a leaf heap to spend the winter in, and with a pesticide-free garden they can move in and out of freely.
What to do
- Dig a pond at least 60 cm deep in the middle, with at least one gently sloping edge, in a spot that gets a few hours of sun a day (see the guide on ponds).
- Do not add fish: they eat the eggs and larvae of frogs and newts.
- Plant water plants such as water mint, water forget-me-not and broad-leaved pondweed: newts wrap their eggs one by one in the leaves, and tadpoles hide among them.
- Create hiding places around the pond: a dead hedge, a pile of stones or logs, long grass and a leaf heap, where they shelter by day and in winter.
- Make the garden accessible: a gap under the fence, no steep-sided drains or cellar windows without a way out, and a plank or stone in a water butt or a pond with steep sides.
- Do not use slug pellets or other pesticides, and mow high and carefully in the long grass around the pond, especially in summer, when the young frogs leave the water.
Caution: Do not take frogspawn, larvae or animals from the wild to put in your pond: it is forbidden or strictly regulated here, and you may spread diseases. They will come by themselves if the pond is right.
Why it helps
- Amphibians spend only part of the year in water: in spring they lay their eggs there, the rest of the year they hunt slugs, worms and insects on land, and most of them spend the winter under leaves, wood or in the soil.
- Many ponds and ditches have disappeared, and roads and walls cut up their habitat. A garden pond with hiding places around it helps the common frog, the common toad and the smooth newt.
Which plants?
- Water mint Mentha aquatica herbaceous plant Native
- Water forget-me-not Myosotis scorpioides water or marginal plant · flowers May–September Native
- Broad-leaved pondweed Potamogeton natans water or marginal plant Native
- Marsh marigold Caltha palustris water or marginal plant · flowers March–May NativePoisonous
- Yellow flag Iris pseudacorus water or marginal plant · flowers May–June NativePoisonous
- Water violet Hottonia palustris water or marginal plant · flowers May–June Native
- Rigid hornwort Ceratophyllum demersum water or marginal plant Native
- Purple loosestrife Lythrum salicaria perennial · flowers June–September Native
- Meadowsweet Filipendula ulmaria perennial · flowers June–August Native
- Hazel Corylus avellana Shrub · flowers January–March Native
- Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna Broadleaf tree · flowers May Native
When?
February–May and September–October.
Garden jobs in FebruaryGarden jobs in MarchGarden jobs in AprilGarden jobs in MayGarden jobs in SeptemberGarden jobs in October
Take up the challenge
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Put out a water dish (June–August)
Put out a shallow dish of water with a stone in it, for birds, hedgehogs and insects. Refresh it every few days. -
Leave the leaves (October–November)
Leave leaves under shrubs or make a leaf pile: a winter shelter for hedgehogs and insects.
Did you know? In February–March, on mild, damp evenings, common toads head back to the pond where they were born; volunteers then help them cross the road safely.