Amphibians in Shetland
Only two
species of amphibian have been recorded in Shetland, the Common Toad and
Common Frog. Both are introduced and although the Common Frog is now
widespread, the Common Toad is extinct.
Common
Frog
Rana temporaria
An
introduced resident, the first record was apparently sometime in the 1860s
when residents on Whalsay reporting seeing and hearing the species on the
isle, although other sources give the first reported date of sometime in
1895 on Fetlar. Further introductions were recorded in 1922 at Berry in
Scalloway and at Seafield in Lerwick in the late 1920s. The species is now
established throughout Mainland and most of the inhabited islands
including Foula and Fair Isle and has apparently adapted well to life in
Shetland as those found here spawn a month later than individuals on the
UK mainland. In 1999, Shetland BRC organised a Frogwatch survey, the
results of can be accessed from the menu bar to the right.
Photo: Common Frog -
photographer unknown
Common Toad
Bufo bufo
The Common
Toad has been introduced into Shetland a number of times as adults and
tadpoles. Venables & Venables (1955) gave the following account of the
introductions.
Sir
Winston Cheyne introduced a few adult toads into his garden in Fetlar
early in the present century but none survived. In about 1933 J. & C. J.
Williamson of Scalloway procured three or four adult toads from Orkney and
released them at Tingwall but these were not seen again.
In 1949 C.
E. Mitchell had some tadpoles sent up from Aberdeenshire and these he put
into his little artificial pool in his garden at Seafield, Lerwick, but
they soon disappeared. In 1950 he received eight adults from Aberdeenshire
which he put in his garden and the last one was seen on the 11th July
1951. Some of these toads spawned in his pond on 6th April 1950. Part of
the spawn was left in situ but was destroyed by ducks. Part of the
spawn was put into a tank and eventually hatched tadpoles but these were
very slow in developing and still showed no sign of developing legs after
ninety days. These tadpoles were then put into the pond, where they soon
disappeared.
Since that
time there have been only two reliable reports of the species in Shetland
- an adult seen in the bog at Westsandwick, Yell on the 26th October 1977
(D. Rushton) and a three inch individual found at Strand Plantation,
Tingwall on the 12th April 1982 (P. Ewins).
Nature in Shetland
