TADPOLE HUNTER by Arnold Cooke

Tadpole Hunter: A Personal History of Amphibian Conservation and Research by Arnold Cooke. Lodon: Pelagic Publishing. 2023.

I have enjoyed reading this book. Arnold Cooke describes his own work in studying amphibians and their conservation in the wild over the decades from the late 1960s. In doing so he draws in the people he has met and worked with on the way. He pioneered methods to study local amphibian populations and stuck at it in his spare time as he moved from job to job in Britain’s ever-shifting landscape of official conservation bodies and of his responsibilities for different species. His accounts of studies and their conclusions are well illustrated by graphs, tables, charts, maps and photographs.

His long-term monitoring, observations and conservation measures were started at a time when amphibian populations were in serious decline and while dealing with species like the Natterjack Toad which have particular requirements, most of his work was on the more common species that inhabit or did inhabit broad swathes of the country. And that is where my enjoyment of the book and admiration for the author was tinged by sadness. He describes ponds and wet areas of eastern England as study sites that have simply disappeared or have become so overgrown and degraded that they no longer support populations of frogs, toads or newts; even habitats established for amphibian conservation and had thriving populations have since been neglected. The pressures of ‘development’ to house an increasing human population, rather than—but in some cases as well as—agricultural practices, are still causing loss of natural habitat. He found that the simple garden pond is an important resource in urban areas.

It is also clear that we still do not understand the ecophysiological factors that determine whether, for example, a Common Frog will choose to breed in a particular pond and what external factors determine the timing of egg laying. There are some clues in relation to temperature and rainfall but few definitive answers. One personal example is that until local yobs destroyed the lining of the pond in our front garden a few years ago, the healthy population of Common Frogs first produced eggs on or up to 2 days before 15 March for over 20 years despite the vagaries of the weather and possible changes in climate on the Ayrshire coast.

My reading was also tinged by anger at the changes which destroyed and balkanised institutions involved in understanding and conserving the natural environment. Arnold Cooke started work at Monks Wood Experimental Station in 1968: ‘There was a great deal of freedom afforded to scientists at Monks Wood in the heady days of the 1960s and early 1970s’. Subsequent reorganisations involving the splitting of research from practical conservation in the field were devastatingly bad for the environment, for science and the scientists involved. Arnold, whom I met while he was involved in research on eggshell thinning by pesticides in 1973, moved over to the Nature Conservancy side, the organisation given the job of practical conservation until further reorganisation, balkanisation and retitling.

Arnold Cooke touches on some of the difficulties that he observed between the individuals and organisations involved in the conservation of reptiles and amphibians in Britain during the 1970s and 80s. Interest and enthusiasm developed in some cases into zealotry and the personality clashes I saw from a distance while editing the British Journal of Herpetology (now the Herpetological Journal) in the late 1970s. He seems to have sailed through, possibly, as he says, as the only professional and official conservationist in the room, making friends and colleagues in the process.

The text, divided into case studies for particular species and particular sites, shows how knowledge and practical conservation the field have developed over the past 50-odd years—a valuable and important source for anybody entering the field as a professional or amateur. In addition, the extensive list of references provides a valuable resource for all those interested in the life of amphibians and their conservation.

Highly recommended.