Common frog & toad spawning

Common frog (Rana temporaria), common toad (Bufo bufo). Nationwide, United Kingdom.

Best time: 20 Feb – 25 Mar (February to March). Where: WWT London Wetland Centre, Barnes, Wicken Fen NNR, Cambridgeshire (United Kingdom). Time of day: Frogs purr day and night at spawning peaks but are cleanest in the first 3 h after dark.

• You can go on your own
• Entry fee
• No binoculars needed
• Sound 3/5

Open it in the interactive calendarSunrise and sunset listening times for the day you pick, and the map.

When is the best time?

Peak: 20 Feb – 25 Mar. Late Feb to March (earlier in the south-west)

Active from 1 Feb to 15 Apr (February to April) in a typical year.

Time of day

Frogs purr day and night at spawning peaks but are cleanest in the first 3 h after dark; toad release calls are strongest on the migration night from dusk to midnight, after warm rain.

• Night chorus: last light → 3 h after last light
• Morning purring: sunrise → 2 h after sunrise

What will you hear?

Soft purring of frog aggregations and the high 'quark' release calls of toads — best close-up or with a hydrophone.

Binoculars?

No binoculars needed. Close-up at the pond edge; a red torch is all you need.

Where to go

• WWT London Wetland Centre, Barnes — Dense frog spawning in the ponds; Heathrow approaches overhead. Map
• Wicken Fen NNR, Cambridgeshire — Quiet fen ditches; open access on the boardwalks. Map

How to go on your own, and what it costs

Any garden pond, village pond or ditch will do. WWT London Wetland Centre is a paid, daytime centre (Barnes; Hammersmith bus 283). Wicken Fen: the National Trust reserve boardwalk is ticketed and dawn-to-dusk, but the public bridleways and droves around it (Lodes Way, the lode banks) are free at all hours and pass spawning ditches.

Cost: WWT London £17.10–£20.90 adult (2026); Wicken Fen £11 adult / £5.50 child NT non-members plus £3.50 car park (2026); public droves free.

Free or no-guide alternative: Walk the free public paths around Wicken Fen — Lodes Way and the lode banks — at dusk in March; frogs purr from the ditches without entering the ticketed reserve. Or use any local pond: this spectacle is everywhere.

Field-recording notes

A hydrophone in a spawning pond gives underwater clucks and purrs; the surface chorus is quiet but intimate, so close placement on a warm, wet night is key. Toad crossings are on roads by definition — the traffic is part of it.

Sources

• Froglife – Toads on Roads

Similar spectacles

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More: all spectacles in the United Kingdom · frog and toad choruses · the United Kingdom in February · the United Kingdom in March