Graham Workman column: it's surprising what can lurk about in the grass

Literally thousands of baby toads that have appeared and taken up temporary residence all around the cottage – if you have ‘amphibiphobia’ (couldn’t think of the word so I made this one up) you’d be running for cover!. To be honest it’s the same every year and but this year the impact of not mowing for a couple of weeks hasn’t been as bad as usual. The wet weather and little sun has slowed the grass growing down to nearly nothing.

As everyone knows – toads taste absolutely disgusting (I once licked a toad to see if they tasted as bad as people say – they truly do and I won’t be doing it again in a hurry – uurrrrrgggghh). All toads have lumps on the back of their heads; these are parotoid glands, which produce a chemical substance. In some toads, this makes them taste terrible to the animal that is trying to eat them. A few species on every continent, however, do produce highly toxic substances that can be harmful to humans. They secrete the substance in self-defence, such as when they feel like they are about to be somebody's dinner. The poison from the poison dart frogs in South America is obtained only after they hold the frogs over a fire. In captivity the frogs don't produce the toxins which originate from the insect food the frogs eat.

This story I came across a few years ago made me giggle – but very sad for the toads!.

‘Thousands of the amphibians have died in recent days in a pond in Hamburg's Altona district, with their bodies swelling to bursting point. The toads' entrails are propelled for up to a metre (3.2ft), in scenes that have been likened to science fiction. Scientists are baffled. Possible explanations include an unknown virus or a fungus in the pond.

"You see the animals crawling on the ground, swelling and then exploding," German conservationist Werner Smolnik told AFP news agency.

The bodies of the toads expanded to three and a half times their normal size, he said.

"I have never seen such a thing," AFP quotes veterinarian Otto Horst as saying. The site - which has been dubbed "the pond of death" - has been closed to the public. The exploding toads have also crossed the border north into Denmark, according to Danish Radio.

It reported that a large number of toads that live in a pond near Laasby in central Jutland have started to suffer the same fate as the German amphibians. The toads crawl onto the land, swell up and explode in the middle of the night, the radio said’.

Things that go ‘bang’ in the night – hehehehehehhe.

While I was in the garden yesterday I saw Magnus doing what he should do (being a Pointer) and pointing at something in the long grass in our wild part of the garden! Anyway when I looked I saw a quick movement and it was a Toad, probably a two year old – so put him in a safe place and got my camera out and here he is!