Feel like hibernating? You're not alone

Chairman Peter Shallcross's monthly update includes some fascinating detail from Andrew Graham about how our native mammals and amphibians hibernate.  Even in this mild weather they're hunkering down, as I found when I began heaving bags of rubble from garden works out to my car to take to the 'dump'.  I found a toad and now feel guilty that I just had to move him, but put a big heap of 'strulch' on top of him, and will add some decorative bark to that.  

I'm very fond of my apparently several toads - I found this one in a stand-off with a large slug, detected 'heavy breathing' under strulch I'd used to compost a rose, and saw one just looking out of his splendid 'hole' - realising exactly why that favourite dish is called just that!  And I found a tiny newt in my parking bay which  I took to a neighbour who has a little pond - it went straight into a cosy crevice.

But how do these creatures get to my garden? I've found newts, toads and frogs even before that new pond was created.

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