BILL CAWLEY NATURE NOTES
I CHATTED to a woman wearing a T-shirt with the slogan ‘This witch is not for burning’, as I pointed out there were several things wrong with the phrase. The most obvious one is that in England we did not burn witches but hanged them and the number of dead was not as high as is commonly assumed. It is difficult to be precise but it is 500 or so were put on trial and about 300 executed. Witchcraft therefore brings me to the subject of this week’s article – toads.
At the time of the witch trials at the beginning of the 17th century it was believed that toads were “familiars” of witches on account of their ugly appearance and venomous nature. Even the spit of a toad could have repercussions as, according to Edward Topsell’s book of 1608, History of Serpents: “Should it fall on a man it results in all his hayre to fall off his head”. Sometime later on in the century, a woman in Cambridgeshire was hanged in 1645 for keeping a toad in a box for ‘sport and phantasie’. Any close acquaintance with amphibians is frowned upon even today in the Fens.
Of course Shakespeare’s writings pulsates with the malevolent influence of the toad, most notably in Macbeth where toxic qualities could be bought to good effect by the weird sisters using the creature in their ‘confections’: “In the poisoned entrails throw Toad, that under cold stone days and nights has thirty one sweltered venom sleeping got.”
However it is not so sinister and a more sympathetic portrayal of the creature is the reckless but good natured Mr Toad in Wind in the Willows.
One thing I should clear up from the beginning is the difference between toads and frogs. Frogs have longer bodies and legs while toads are squat. The former also have to be close to water. Frogs have smoother slimy skin while toads are dried skinned and warty. Their spawn is different looking as well. Toads spawn is in long strings while frogs are in gluey clusters. Toads are not widespread in North Staffordshire. The natterjack toad lies along the coastal areas while the common toad (Bufo bufo) is under threat as its habitat is threatened. A report compiled by Geoff Halfpenny for the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery some years ago chronicles toads around the area.
An 1844 report states that they are common but persecuted for their uninviting appearance.
In 1911 many of them put up a continual chorus that upset residents of Rough Close and in 1963 their decline in the Leek area was remarked on. Their status as a protected species has resulted in volunteers of toad patrols protecting them and ensuring they have safe passage through the countryside. No toad patrols exist around here. People of North Staffordshire, your toads need you.