•There are a number of differences between frogs and toads, some visual, and some habitual.

Toads are brownish in colour, with copper or golden brown eyes, and their skin is not smooth, but dry and warty in texture.  Their legs are shorter than frogs, which means that they crawl rather than hop.  The common toad will grow up to six inches, or 15 cm, in length, over a period of twenty years or longer, under favourable conditions.  The female is the larger of the pair.  Like the frog, it will begin life as spawn, with up to a thousand eggs being laid at a time, and live through the spring as a tadpole until metamorphosis occurs.  They will, like frogs, return to the water to spawn as mature frogs after three years, but the spawn is laid in long strands, or strings, of single egg thickness, instead of  the mass laid by frogs.  The sketch below is about life-size. 

The tadpoles are similar in size, but darker in colour, almost black, with more solidly coloured tails.  They must have easy access to leave the water by, or they will drown once they have become air breathing toads.

Toads tend to be seen most frequently at night, searching for slugs, snails and earthworms.  During daylight hours they will have one or more favourite hiding places

and will rarely be seen in the water outside of the breeding season.  Like frogs they hibernate over the winter, but will remain on land, maybe squeezed under logs or within their own burrows, whilst frogs will often over-winter in the mud or around the roots of plants in the pond itself..

The Natterjack Toad is a rare British species.  It is instantly recognizable by the yellow stripe running down it's back.  The rest of the body is green.  As the name suggests, it can often be heard in the evening, being largely nocturnal, and is found in sandy areas close to water.  It's habits are similar to the Common Toad, but it is a much faster mover, being able to run over short distances.