THE INDEPENDENT (Dublin, Ireland) 27 June 08 Natterjack toad will be farmers' fee-paying guest (Anne Lucey)
Thirty farmers have signed up for a scheme aimed at reinstating once thriving populations of the rare natterjack species of toad.
The farmers in the Co Kerry scheme are being paid to dig out ponds and maintain them over a five-year period, to ensure the survival of the distinctive yellow-striped amphibian, which runs rather than hops.
According to the National Parks and Wildlife Service, (NPWS), farmers have been generally receptive to the scheme, which will see them earning €1,000 per hectare for the first two ponds, and around €200 for a third pond.
Very little work is required initially, other than the employment of a digger, for about an hour's work, and ensuring that vegetation is trimmed.
Ideally, the ponds should be in the middle of grazing land. Pesticides, tree planting and slurry are banned near the ponds.
Farmers have also been advised to leave rotting logs close by, so the toad -- a nocturnal animal thought to be the loudest creature in Europe -- can sleep during the day, or hibernate there in winter.
The natterjack thrived in parts of the Iveragh and Dingle peninsulas until the 1970s, when house building isolated populations and reduced their range.
Natterjack toad will be farmers' fee-paying guest