The toad was waiting at the front door. Warty dry skin, golden-eyed, the amphibian crawled inside, and headed for the sitting room. We’ve had toads in the house before, but never such a determined guest. Scooped into a box, the toad gaped at me, and swelled. Toads swell for the serious matter of self-defence, hoping to shock an otter into dropping them perhaps, but to the human eye it seems comic. In fact, if you spend any time close to a toad, you’ll see how our word “buffoon” is rooted in the toad’s Latin name of Bufo bufo.