Amphibian house hunting

Our Magnolia stellata is in flower and looking quite splendid. This was the best day of the year so far, weather wise - brilliant sunshine from the start and pleasantly warm. Conditions were ideal for a bonfire, especially as the wind picked up a bit later on. The large stack to the right of the chestnut in yesterday's blip is gone! A few other smaller piles have also disappeared. However, the day's activities were not entirely without drama.

The bonfire was sited at the top of the field. So, material from the various piles had to be wheelbarrowed there. Towards the bottom of the large stack, a frog emerged from hiding in the damp vegetation. This wasn't a surprise as we had disturbed a few in recent days in various parts of the field. It was quite a large specimen. We moved it to the safety of the bank above the burn, under the hedge in the bottom corner of the field. A couple of minutes later another emerged, then another. How many were there?

We were raking the material cautiously, stopping at intervals to check . . . and they kept appearing - soon there were seven! The next load of material was barrowed up the slope and tipped it into the smouldering fire. Just about to turn back down the slope, a movement caught the eye - another poor, tiny little creature hopped out of the embers! We carried no. 8 back down to join its relatives. No. 9 was another big one, 10 was a bit smaller, as was 11 but 12 was the biggest of the lot! We do hope they find a nice new home and hope there wasn't a 13th - if so, it was probably very unlucky!