I've never met her. How should I? She hibernates all day and is active all night. Not my type at all. I've heard her though. Her knocking trill. Calling while spawning underwater. Her name melts in my ant mouth like a clear drop of honey dew: pelobates fuscus. You have to pronounce each syllable really slowly and drawn out: pe-lo-ba-tes fus-cus.

Never heard of her? In this country, she is also commonly known as the garlic toad. She is one of the most endangered amphibian species and is protected throughout Europe. Until recently, she lived on our BBI construction site of all places. In spring, she used to always hop out of the trees into the pools on the site, right where the diggers roll along and heavy machinery goes past. We had to protect her from them and resettle her in a different area.

Thousands of animals, even moor frogs and common toads, have been saved by our environmentalists over the past few years. Now they are all living peacefully and safely in four new ponds – away from the construction site. I wonder if I'll be meeting pelobates fuscus there sometime soon!

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