The Midwife Mystery

The night had closed in gently, and then it began...

Cutting shrilly through the darkness, there emanated a repetitive high-pitched electronic beep. Kevin braved the night, naked, but for a torch beam, to find out what was threatening our peaceful sleep. It seemed to be coming from the lower barn; perhaps the new lawn tractor had a warning signal if something was left on? No, nothing there. The beeping stopped.

Kevin came back into the caravan. The beeping resumed. Did we have a smoke alarm somewhere amongst our boxes of useless items? Kevin went out again to listen to the boxes in the upper barn. No, nothing. The beeping stopped.

Kevin returned to the caravan. The beeping resumed. He went out again to check around the caravan. Perhaps a battery under a flap somewhere was running low. No, nothing.

Perhaps it was the KitCat clock with its swivelly eyes and swinging tail, developing an irritating squeak? No, just the usual mildly irritating creak.

We eventually fell asleep, the penetrating four second-interval beeping becoming part of the night-time tree-swishing, owl-hooting aural backdrop.

The next night, it happened again. 

We both went out with torches this time. The beeping seemed to be coming from the big stone water trough I'd recently cleaned out. (Just under the shrunken voodoo heads...) That's when I realised that it was probably a frog or an insect. While we were standing there, the beeping stopped. As soon as we were back in the caravan, off it went again. 

I Googled 'beeping frog, France', and there was the answer. The 'midwife toad'. Around 3cm long, a tiny scrap of toad with a HUGE beep! I think it's asking me to refill the trough with water. I guess I will...



Image result for midwife toad
The culprit


(Something funny happens with its eggs, hence the 'midwife' label- Google it to find out more!)

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