I made it back to England yesterday unexpectedly due to the untimely death of an aged relative. After the funeral and a long drive I made it back to the pond that was completely devoid of amphibian life only 8 days ago and bingo! It was heaving with toads in amplexus, male toads everywhere outnumbering the females and waves of individuals coming out of the surrounding woods making their way to the pool. There were still a few frogs around who were trying to mate with toad females. This always seems to happen in this particular pond where the toads start breeding just after the fogs have finisheed. In other ponds I know there is usually two or three weeks between the seasons.