1.  Introduction.  Assynt boasts some 680 lochs and lochans (as shown on the 1:50,000 O.S. map), and many more smaller bodies of water.  There is therefore no lack of suitable breeding habitat for amphibians.  Three species are known to occur, and there are intriguing, if ancient, reports of a fourth.

Common Frog

2.  The common frog is the commonest amphibian in Assynt, occurring in a wide variety of habitats from the coast to high in the hills.  The total population of adults is probably in excess of 100,000.   Adults vary in colour through shades of olive green, yellow, brown and red, often well-marked with black.

 Spawning takes place from early March, the earliest often about 6th, in water bodies varying in size from temporary pools on tracksides and in peat cuttings, artificial tanks, to the shallows and backwaters of burns and lochans.  Spawning sites range in altitude from just

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