Wednesday 29 February 2012

Toad Haul

Toads chirp when they're scared. I know, because this evening at dusk I helped to carry about 100 of them across a road in buckets.

No, I'm not an Eco-Warrier. I just got talked into doing it by my mum, who has both Eco and Warrier tendencies at times (when she's not sat watching a BBC drama with her feet up on the poof).

Apparently, at this time of year, the green warty ones wake up en-masse from their forest hibernation and feel the watery call of the pond on the other side of a very busy road, where they must go and reproduce. There is a huge risk of them getting squished by cars mid-hop. So some keen toad-protectors put up a plastic barrier along the edge of the road and then recruit an army of toad well-wishers in wellies, brandishing torches and buckets, who are willing to scoop them up and carry them safely across to the other side.

As I stood there in the dark, amongst cowpats, shining my clever iphone 'flashlight' app over my nephew as he enthusiastically unloaded the chirping 'mating pairs' bucket near the pond, I must confess I felt a small pang of longing to be in a warm pub, without wellies on, drinking a large glass of red.

4 comments:

  1. I've not yet heard pf such an activity , but it sounds wonderful and so helpful to the toads, not that they'd know necessarily of how fortunate they are not to wind up squished on the roads.

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  2. Welcome back to the blogosphere! There have been times when I've felt like closing my blog - well, I did and changed to WordPress - but somehow carry on. But I don't blog nearly as much as I did since joining Facebook a year ago and recently Twitter. All a glorious waste of time really; but free. Good luck with Love and Enterprise!

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  3. What a wonderful job you are doing to help these creatures across the road. This will help to keep the species alive. Well done.
    Maggie X

    Nuts in May

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  4. E - it's true, they will never thank me for it!

    DD - nice to see you here! And thanks.

    MM - It was a rather odd experience, but yes, worth doing I suppose!

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