Common Toad

A short visit down the Vale on another amphibian hunt proved successful early this evening, thanks mainly to a couple of sharp eyed kids and their rather embarrassed mother...

After a quick look around the small 'Kingfisher Pond' proved fruitless, I decided to have a walk around the main Mill Ponds and see what birdlife was about and to be perfectly honest, I had all but given up on seeing anything else as I approached the young family.

As I passed the family, the two young boys were looking at something in the grass and called their mother over to investigate.

I heard the words 'frog' and 'piggyback' and I quickly turned around to have a look myself.

Meanwhile the young lady was quickly ushering the youngsters away before they started to ask those awkward questions that children are so very good at.

As it happens, it wasn't frogs that had stirred all the excitement in the kids but a pair of Common Toad and like so many other species do at this time of year, they were...well, errrr, ok, playing piggyback!