Volunteers needed to help amorous toads cross road in Bath
A road in Bath is due to close next month while volunteers help amorous toads reach an historic breeding ground safely.
Charlcombe Lane on the northern edge of the city will be closed for six weeks from Monday, February 11 for the duration of the common toads' breeding season.
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The volunteers will be out once again next month to escort the amorous toads safely across Charlcombe Lane
Volunteers from the Charlcombe Toad Rescue Group will be on hand to carry the toads across the road every evening, so the amphibians can lay their spawn in a lake at Charlcombe Farm.
The toads need a little extra help to cross safely. Volunteers will also looking out for frogs and newts.
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Group spokeswoman Anna Ferguson said: "Toads come back each year to the same place to spawn and come from quite far away. The first thing they think of after the winter is of going to spawn. Frogs will go to new lakes but toads always return to the same place.
"We can pick up hundreds. Charlcombe Lane is quite long and we can walk up it and only see a few toads. But by the time we get back down it there can be hundreds out and we have to go back up again.
"They are around three to five inches, with females bigger than the males.
"They aren't scaly or slimy and are quite easy to pick up because they don't hop – they have quite a weak hop. I absolutely love them.
"They are quite different to frogs – when it comes to picking up frogs that is like trying to pick up soap in the shower."
This will be the 11th year the road has closed, with the wildlife group saying 21,000 toads have crossed during this period.
But not all toads have made it safely across; some seven per cent have been killed as they tried to reach their favoured ponds.
"We have 20 volunteers but want more. The difficulty has been that some people have called up to help on a specific day but we need people who can be fairly flexible and can be called up to help when it is busy," added Mrs Ferguson.
The annual toad safety campaign is part of a national campaign called Toads on Roads, coordinated by wildlife charity Froglife.
Volunteers start when it gets dark at around 5pm and can still be out escorting toads to safety some five hours later.
Charlcombe Lane will still be able to be used by local residents and visitors.
People wanting to volunteer can contact Sam Taylor of Froglife on 01733 425822 or email sam. taylor@froglife.org.
6 Comments
by Bath525
Monday, February 11 2013, 5:52PM
“I wonder if the Toads will make it next year. What with the proposed footpath diversion around Smallcombe Farm they might not be allowed in?
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by MoeXXX
Sunday, February 03 2013, 12:52AM
“A heartwarming, and sadly very rare, example of pure altruism in modern humans. The rest of us should learn from this lot.”
by BV_BV
Sunday, February 03 2013, 12:22AM
“How do they all return to the fields above Charlcombe Lane?”
by Mr_Nemo
Saturday, February 02 2013, 9:07PM
“"Charlcombe Lane will still be able to be used by local residents and visitors....."
Which at night, when there are unlikely to be any delivery vehicles, is really the only traffic that ought to be using that road anyway - so its not exactly going to be "closed" then after all?”
by Imp-Act
Friday, February 01 2013, 9:49PM
“Good job!”
by mrGoth
Friday, February 01 2013, 3:28PM
“Go Go Toad Patrol!”