Toads nearly always return to mate and spawn in the pond or lake where they were born. If the spawn was put there last year for the first time, it will probably be another 2 or 3 years before any toads return to breed. The males may well turn up a year or so before any females. It is possible that they will never return at all if the pond is very small. Frogs are much less fussy and will spawn in any piece of water that seems suitable at the time, even in ditches and puddles which may dry up well before the froglets emerge.