WE have a small cupboard on the patio, where I keep important barbecue stuff, a few garden tools and so on. It’s a bit of a bloke place, if the truth be told.

I went to get the brush next to the cupboard, the other day, and stopped in a hurry. Sat next to the brush was a pretty big toad, and I haven’t seen one in many a year. It was regarding me in a rather disdainful manner, with orangey eyes.

Toads are bigger than frogs, but have shorter legs, and walk rather than hop like frogs do.

This one was brown in colour but they can be green. Now, I rather like frogs, they seem pleasant enough, but I have to admit the warty skin of a toad is a bit off-putting.

We have two species of toads in the UK, the common toad and the natterjack, this one being the former.

They can secrete a foul-tasting fluid as a defence mechanism and have a thin skin as they breathe through it.

The good news is they eat slugs and snails and even small snakes or mice, but they are themselves prey to herons, otters and hedgehogs. Maybe the seemingly limited slug numbers in the garden this year are due to this fella.

Anyway, he decided to shuffle under the little shed and I left him there. They are nocturnal and I left the patio gate open, and he was gone the next morning. Actually, I’m not sure which sex the toad was, the throat colour is indicative but I wasn’t that fussed in getting any closer.

I was just really pleased to see the toad and hope that (if he is a he) he’s gorging himself on every slug he can find in the garden.