Agile Frog

Critically Endangered

Amphibian

Location: Jersey, Channel Islands.

Jersey is the only place in the British Isles where this long-legged species of frog can be found. Its population has been declining in both range and numbers since the early 1900s. By the 1970s it could be found at only seven sites in Jersey, and by the mid 1980s this had fallen to only two sites. In 1987, one of the remaining two breeding populations was lost as a result of a catastrophic spill of agricultural pesticide into a pond. The species is now believed to be confined to a single fragile population in the south-west of the island.

In an attempt to prevent the extinction of the agile frog in Jersey, the Agile Frog Group, a collaboration of local environmental and conservation organisations and individuals, has launched a comprehensive Action Plan, which lays out the various threats faced by the species and details what action is needed to save it.

Water pollution and habitat loss from farming and housing have destroyed all but one of the frog’s natural breeding sites. Ducks and non-native fish eat frogspawn and cats often eat adult frogs. Durrell manages a head-starting programme for the species, which means wild clumps of spawn are reared in safety at Durrell's headquarters. Tadpoles and froglets are then released into the wild, both at the original site and at suitable new ones. Vital habitat protection is also carried out, in conjunction with research into the frog’s ecology.

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