Silent Storms

Dark has fallen and the glow of civilisation blots out the sky, the night indistinguishable from a hundred other nights.

But leave the lights of the city behind, venture into the primeval forests and the night takes on personality and a unique feel, no two ever being quite the same.

Silent lightning flickered in the night sky. It had been completely invisible beneath the street lighting, but out here in the dark woods the show of natural electricity was very apparent.

The woods lit up briefly, its inky blackness transformed for a split second into over exposed highlights and crisp black shadows as lightning raced overhead. The soft blur of darkness returned hiding details, shadows shifted.

The dogs for their part explored and snuffled unconcerned by the energetic weather.

The forest was still, a rare touch of a breeze across the tree tops making them sigh, but otherwise things were quiet. The storm that was sending out its flickering light had passed some time ago and now squatted on the far off horizon, too distant for its grumbles to be heard, but its lightning was readily apparent in the high dark.

The mutts galloped off into the deeper woods leaving me temporarily on my own. Lightning flickered again, the stark change in shadows making the forest seem to weave and grasp. Around me things moved. The night rustled with the faint sounds of shifting feet and scurries of passing animals. Whether the storm had set the unseen denizens to activity or the stillness made their sounds more apparent who can say.

The night is alive tonight I muttered to myself into the darkness. I followed the dogs deeper into the woods and as another flicker of lightning lit up the woods I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and I suppressed a shiver.

Hmmm.

Bouncing around with their usual energy the mutts circled a broken tree stump, the remnants of some long fallen wooden sentry. Snuffling noses quested through the leaf litter leading their blindly following paws in a meandering path through the trees.

I paused by the stump to stretch and catch a breath.

The stump some 3 feet high had an indentation in its top - set at an angle it formed a large bowl like formation and within it, something odd.

In the pitch dark it was impossible to make out anything more than generalities, but something didn't seem to be quite right. I flicked on the torch.

A large toad blinked at me seemingly quite at peace in its wooden bowl. I pondered how on earth it had got 3 feet off the ground, it wasn't a hoppity frog, this was more of a lolloping toad.

The mutts returned, finished with their sniffing. The boy wondered what I was looking at - he couldn't see the toad from the floor. Rising on his back legs he gave the stump a once over - he still couldn't see the toad, but something sure did smell funny. Deep snuffles ensued and he worked his way around the tree trying to find a better position. Finally he found his best spot and snuffled the toad with his nose.

Don't disturb him I said.

The toad was unimpressed by being nudged by a wet nose and lazily walked to a higher point in the bowl.

The boy wanted the toad. Where had it gone. As he grew ever more energetic and started trying to jump on the stump I called him off and we slowly moved away.

The toad decided to quit its hidey hole and was acrobatically and none too elegantly climbing down the tree. Ho well.

We rounded near the edge of the forest. A sudden flicker of lightning from across the open grassy hill lit up the night starkly - at first I thought someone had switched on a large spotlight it was that bright and direct. The effect was less like lightning and more like some alien ray gun of death. Spielberg would have been proud to have its likeness in a film.

We trotted on and disappeared once more into the darker woods, and finally, with a slightly hurried pace we exited and went home.