Country diary: tiny toads star in their own fast-forward evolution movie

Wenlock Edge, Shropshire: The action is on the ground, with hundreds of toadlets scurrying along the dark, damp trackA mild southerly breeze, overcast, rain spitting into the leathery green of the dog-days – toad weather. The old railway line that runs down Wenlock Edge through Northway Wood cuts across the steep scarp slope. On an evening like this it is a quiet place. It hasn’t seen a train since the early sixties and has been used for taking out timber and walking since then, but