How thoughtful the keepers appear to be, fashioning what looks like a charming wildlife pond in the middle of the grouse moor. A touching gesture, if one overlooks the small detail that this idyllic pool is also a shooting butt where folk crouch, lie in wait, and unleash a storm of shot at birds driven overhead. Should the heavens open, the “sportsmen” will no doubt rely upon their splendid, artisan, fur-lined wellington boots, hand-stitched by someone with limitless patience and a stiff upper lip.
I had no such luxury this morning when I discovered a Common Toad, a ‘gangerill’ according to the Rev. Atkinson1Gangerill, gangrill, gangril, sb. 1. A vagrant, whether a beggar or a pedlar, &c. 2. A toad. “A Glossary of the Cleveland Dialect”. R.C. Atkinson., marooned in the four inches of water pooling at the bottom of this wooden oubliette. The sides were sheer, the step a challenge fit for a mountaineer. It seemed lifeless. I stepped into the freezing water and found that my waterproof socks had decided to abandon their one job in life. As my shadow crept across the toad it twitched, scrabbling hopelessly at the slick timber. I lifted it out, retreated from the pit of doom, and set it gently in the heather at a sensible distance. It stayed put, hunched in a stupor. Short of performing some heroic act of amphibian resuscitation, that was the end of my morning rescue mission.
- 1Gangerill, gangrill, gangril, sb. 1. A vagrant, whether a beggar or a pedlar, &c. 2. A toad. “A Glossary of the Cleveland Dialect”. R.C. Atkinson.
Leave a Reply