Ribbit

Rainbow Toad from BBC website

This is a Rainbow Toad, only recently found after a 90-year long game of hide and seek with a group of scientists who had dedicated their time to finding this one toad. The photo is from the BBC nature news website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/14151541

Unfortunately, it was not I who trekked through the ridges of the Gunung Penrissen range of Western Sarawak to find this amphibian, but it was I who managed to sneak the following close-up of one of the many beautiful little frogs here at The Old Farm. You may not think this to be such an achievement, but it was somewhat of an unexpected challenge, since these frogs appear to be terrified of me and me alone. Anyway, this is my achievement for the day, an achievement which took a considerable length of time lying dead still and hiding behind the ridge of the pond until the frogs deemed me to be far enough away to come back up again. I was rather proud.

Unfortunately, the sound of the frogs diving into the water still greets me when I deign to even look at the pond.

Frog in pond in France

* A guest entry by Young Riotlife *

A Visitor Comes

Green Lizard under tomato leaves

The prolonged silence ticked over in my head; anticipation coloured the still air whilst I waited for the inevitable roar.

Silence.

‘COME OVER HERE! QUICKLY!’ A sudden screech made me jump, and the tiny green lizard, not nearly as loud as I expected, scuttled into the tomato plants by my feet.

More than a little disappointed, I snapped back into reality and realised the huge dragon set to eat me was only a little lizard, and was in fact a gazillion times more scared of me than I was of it.

I slowly chased it through the vegetable patch, wanting to catch a glimpse of its incredibly camouflaged body, but then I began to feel guilty because the poor thing must have been terrified.

The highlight of Day 1: my little friend the dragon coming to work in the vegetable patch with us.

* A guest entry by Young Riotlife *