Resident toads are excellent garden inhabitants, consuming pests like ants, beetles, caterpillars, woodlice and slugs.
They hibernate during the winter, often under decks or sheds or in mammal burrows, but you can help to ensure they survive the cold by making a bespoke toad shelter. It’ll need to be cool and damp, and out of reach of cats, crows, magpies, rats and hedgehogs. All you need is a few bricks and stones, and some dried leaves.
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