Red Toad?

[DurhamBugs]

Whilst looking for interesting invertebrates to photograph a couple of days ago, I turned over a piece of scrap wood and found this red toad. I've no reason to think that it's anything other than a Common Toad with an unusual skin pigmentation, but I've certainly never seen one like this before. It was even more strikingly red in 'real life' than it appears in the photo (probably due to the flash), a deep pinky colour. It looked healthy enough, if a bit on the small side, maybe a little over an inch from nose to tail.
Has anyone else seen one of these?

[meinchewster]

Originally Posted by DurhamBugs

Whilst looking for interesting invertebrates to photograph a couple of days ago, I turned over a piece of scrap wood and found this red toad. I've no reason to think that it's anything other than a Common Toad with an unusual skin pigmentation, but I've certainly never seen one like this before. It was even more strikingly red in 'real life' than it appears in the photo (probably due to the flash), a deep pinky colour. It looked healthy enough, if a bit on the small side, maybe a little over an inch from nose to tail.
Has anyone else seen one of these?

juveniles and sub adult toads are often a rusty colour, changing colour as they mature and to suit their environment.
on a local site, i would say 7 out of 10 toadlets that emerge are rusty but the adults that migrate to the ponds to spawn are mostly olive.

be they red, brown, olive or green, they always look fantastic.