Battening Down The Hatches By David Cole

Battening down the hatches for the much predicted cold snap - which is to be accompanied by gale force winds, or heavy rain, or sleet and snow depending on which smiling weather boy or girl happens to pop up at the end of the News to further depress us - I have taken to musing about how the other folk in the surrounding countryside cope with the weather.

The window of the room where my computer lives overlooks part of the vegetable garden, and I was curious as to why Mrs C. - who was clearing the last of the summer carrots - was making frequent journeys across the lawn to a shrubbery located in a raised bed. She was carrying something but I was not sure what - so nosiness prevailed and out I went...

Toads! Various sizes and colours who had established themselves just below the surface of the soil to overwinter. Removing the carrots had disturbed their underground dens and Mrs C. was operating a relocation programme to help out these 'gardeners' friends' by taking them to the shelter of the leafy soil in the shrubbery.

The toads are a chemical factory and they secrete stuff called bufotoxins which in theory make them taste unpleasant so that a potential predator would be inclined to spit them out... but there is much more to brother toad's slime and scientists are only just beginning to recognize that they also produce natural antibiotics to protect themselves against infection - by identifying these chemicals we may increase our own armoury against infections.

Certain old ladies (no pointed hats or broomsticks will be mentioned) in my youth produced strange mixtures for wounds that would not heal - the green bits of stale bread were favourites and it was rumoured among the callow youths that the mixture contained 'toad slime'... please don't try it for yourself - let the scientists do their refining and produce a brightly coloured and extremely expensive pill for us!

...anyway where was I - Oh yes, gardeners friends - toads enjoy all the juicy critters that in turn enjoy our vegetables - so friends they are, and should be treated as such with respect. Carefully cradled in rubber gloves ours are making a late migration to newly selected winter quarters - I'm sure that they appreciate the attention...