"We are legally obliged to bring the natterjack into favourable conservation status, so I am delighted to hear that the toads are doing so well this year. The local farmers have played an important role in providing and managing habitat for this rare animal and it is rewarding to see that effort paying dividends."

The natterjack toad is one of only three amphibians found in Ireland - the other two are the common frog and the smooth newt. 

Adult toads may grow to 80mm and although colour varies from pale green to black above there is always a yellow stripe down the middle of the back. Natterjacks are nocturnal and during the day they hide under logs and stones. Over winter, natterjacks hibernate in burrows that they dig themselves in sandy soils, or in piles of rocks or dry-stone walls.  It is normally mid-April before the natterjacks become active and the distinctive croaking of the male is heard at the breeding ponds.  

Unlike frogs, toad spawn is laid as a long string of eggs. It can be 1.5m long and it may contain 2-3,000 eggs.  The egg-string is wound around the aquatic vegetation in the shallows of the breeding pond.  The black embryos look like beads in a necklace.

In warm weather, natterjack spawn hatches within a week and the tadpoles develop and metamorphose within two months. In good years, huge numbers of juveniles may emerge successfully. However, in dry years, water levels can drop rapidly resulting in mass mortality of the tadpoles.

Natterjack's eggs and tadpoles contain a noxious chemical that largely protects them from predation, but dragonfly and beetle larvae will eat them. Foxes, otters and herons occasionally eat adults, but if they escape predation, natterjacks can live to six or seven years in the wild.

The natural range of the natterjack toad in Ireland is confined to a small number of coastal sites on the Dingle and Iveragh peninsulas in Co. Kerry.  But it was once more widespread in Kerry.  There is evidence that by 1970, the range of the natterjack toad in Ireland has decreased by about half. The most significant loss in range occurred around Castlemaine Harbour.  It seems clear from historic records that the species has previously been found right around this coastal strip. 

Since 2008, 48 farmers have joined a scheme to help restore the toad to its former range, with each farmer digging and managing two ponds. 96 new ponds have been dug for natterjacks within their former range. 20 of these have already been colonised naturally by toads. The farmers are paid €1,000 each year to manage the ponds and the surrounding land for natterjacks.