A little fat friend!

Wow...do you think it's a her Spritz, ready to lay her eggs?

Could be - I don't know where, though!

ours was out again lastnight,, i love to see them in the garden

what did Henry think of her

How lovely a toad, havnt seen one for years, lucky you .

Eileen, that's why I took such a poor photo - Henry was behind me and I didn't want him to see Mr (or Mrs) Toad - I think he would have got too interested!

we have lots of froglets this year, no idea where they came from as no pond nearbye, but never seen a toad, how lucky for you

He/she did give me a shock, I have to admit! I was only pulling our dead Pulmonaria flowers ...and there he/she was!

Its when you accidently touch them, they are so cold. Yuk.I do pick them up and remove them to safety if the cat is "playing" with them though

I think that Henry would only 'do' something if it moved. He chases rabbits and cats...oh and pigeons as well. He might sniff at it, but that's all.

Of course you have to rescue them! But...:-(

Oh he/she's lovely - a much more welcome visitor than the slugs and snails.

Lovely to see him Spritz.

Looks like a female toad Spritz, the male is smaller than the female. WHen you pick them up usually they will relieve themselves and you will have a wet hand. It's just a reflex reaction to scare you off.

It works Lindak ! Every time !!!

I have resident ones living in my dry stone wall, they regularly make me jump when i'm in the back garden working, they're usually in the rockery or under Heuchera leaves :) !!!

I can't let my cats see them or they'd annoy them and give them no peace, at times i have to help them to safety :)

Linda - I am not going to pick it up...that's for sure!

LOL :)

I don't mind picking them up but not for long as they are cool blooded creatures and heat doesn't do them any good. The substance that they produce is like a poison to other animals as a defence mechanism, but if they do it when you pick them up just go and wash your hands afterwards.They are wonderful little creatures and do a lot of good in the garden. They love cracks in the stone walls or you can even make them a little cave of stones in a shaded corner of the garden. Toads lay their eggs in a long string and wrap them around the weeds in the pond. Frogs lay them in a large jelly mass that floats on the top of the pond. Toads crawl and frogs jump. Toads are an olive colour with warty type skin and frogs have distinct markings with smooth skin. Hope you have found this of some help and interest.

Do you think she is a local just on a visit - or a resident in my garden?

Spritz. I'm surprised at you. Pick him up and give him a big smackaroo and he'll turn into a handsome prince.

It's a SHE Toto......and perhaps she would turn into a princess for Spritz but I wouldn't recommend anyone kissing a toad. Usually toads stay in the locality. You may have visiting toads in the middle of SPring when they are mating and laying their eggs in the pond. In my other garden where we used to live each toad had his or her domain and would go on a route every evening at dusk.

She wouldn't have come from the stream, would she? Although it's slow moving at the moment and quite shallow, it can turn into a raging torrent! I don't have a pond.

I expect that the stream draws the toads in the Springtime but during the Summer the toad will be in the damp places in your lovely garden eating up the slugs and snails, storing up fat for the Winter when she will hibernate underneath some stones or in a dry stone wall, where she will emerge again next year.

If it's a she, please send her to me and I'll give her a big kiss and maybe I'll end up with a lovely princess. I'll let you know when the wifes out although she would be glad to get rid of me anyway.

I couldn't see her this afternoon - she obviously didn't like being observed and some human poking a camera at her! lol.

Toto you really made me smile this morning. I feel a story coming on here.
Once upon a time a wicked witch cast a spell on the land, and everyone got bored and fed up with everything. Even the gardeners forgot to weed the flowerbeds.Everyone yawned and fell asleep. Nature took over and the weeds grew and grew until they covered the cars, houses, shops, and the people slept on. The witches toads didn't like what the witch had done so they left her magic cave and marched along until they came to Toto's garden, where they saw and ivy covered man in a deckchair. One of the female toads said, 'I heard the witch say that people could be woken up with a kiss,' so she climbed up and just about reached Toto's lips and gave him a squidgey kiss. She felt strange and started changeing into
a beautiful princess. Toto woke up and couldn't believe
what had happened to him. The toad had broken the witches spell and everyone woke up again and all the toads went to live in people's gardens. To this day the weeds still try to take over everything and the toads help the gardeners out by eating up all the slugs and snails.

Aaaah! What imagination, Linda - I enjoyed your story.

....and they all lived happily ever after!

Wow Lindak. I'm glad I had such a positive influence but where's my princess?

a great garden friend. well done.

Look at home, Toto....:-)

The wicked witch took Toto's wife away and changed her into a princess and sent her off to find her prince, but she came back to the wicked witch's cave disappointed as she couldn't find her perfect man, so the witch turned her into a toad. Of course when the toads marched out of the witches cave how do you think that they found Toto.....and of course Toto had his princess back. This really is the end of the story.

So there, Toto!! ;-)

I'm sorry everyone I've just got too much imagination......But Toto is now in a story for future gardeners to read. Let's hope we have some GOOD SPELLS of weather for the Summer to garden then sit back, relax with a glass of wine or orange juice, and enjoy the fruits of our labours.

Don't be sorry, Linda! I enjoyed it! :-) And I hope so too.

: ) : )