Colt's-foot is a distinctive early-flowering member of the daisy family (Asteraceae). It's vibrant yellow flowers appear in February or March, and the leaves usually follow as the flowers are fading. It is often found in sunny places on poor soil, including on the edge of gravelly tracks and pathways.

Colt's-foot is one of the most widespread plants in the UK, occurring from Orkney and Shetland right down to Cornwall.

It has long been used as a herbal remedy to relieve coughs.

Common Toads begin to emerge from hibernation in March. Any spell of mild damp weather can see them making their journey to their favoured breeding ponds, to which they will return year after year. Where such routes cross roads this can lead to many road casualties.

Males seek out and cling to females in order to fertilise the eggs as they are laid. Spawn is laid in strings (unlike the clumps of Common Frogs) and the tadpoles remain black as they develop (unlike frog tadpoles which become more bronze and speckled as they mature).

Adult toads can be distinguished from frogs by their warty skin, blunt nose and their gate—toads tend to walk whereas frogs usually hop.

In Scots the Common Toad is known as a puddock, a name known by many from the whimsical poem by John M. Caie.