Toads

A few weeks ago, on Freecycle, a woman nearby offered a small formed pool liner. We went by to look at it and tossed it on the trailer on top of a load of wood chips we had gotten from the county recycle facility. I dug a hole for it in the swale above the driveway. Here's what it looks like in the ground. There's still some dirt to be moved to smooth it all out.



Because the hole was dug in nearly pure clay, I realized that if it rains before I got any water in it, the pond form would likely float up in whatever water seeped down the sides on the outside and accumulated under the form. You can see a gap in the surrounding soil on the right side near the middle. I shot a little water into it with a hose and sort of forgot about it. A day or so later I went up to spread some more soil and clay around the rim and found this critter.



There are two levels to the form and the sides of each are very steep so this little fellow/gal was stuck in the mud, so to speak. I added the length of 2"X4" to see if it would provide an escape.



When I looked in a few fours later, the toad was gone. This won't be a problem when the pond is full, but for now I'll leave the wood ramp in there.

I find toads like this in the wildflower garden all the time. They seem to like the taller plants and I'm sure the swale has helped keep the garden moist longer after rains.