In the south of the Emsland region, outside of protected areas, there is a former sandpit which had disappeared over time under a dense young pine-birch forest. From 2018 to 2021, adult natterjack toads (Bufo calamita) and tadpoles were still occasionally recorded here, but the sand pit increasingly lost its function as a habitat for the species. (...) From a dark pit to a light paradise for the natterjack toad