The long and winding toad...

Like toads? Fancy becoming a toad patroller? Then Froglife's initiative is for you. There is plenty of useful information about how to register and what to do next. Check out the site here. Enjoy.

  • Excellent..No transport these days & nowhere near any crossings,sadly but...unsolicited emails sent out to all my relatives and friends using the postcode/crossing finder method.Have allocated,I mean,suggested to them :-) a spot where they can help out. Great site & come on forumites...jump to it.

    If you are now thinking....toads don`t jump....then you have demonstrated enough knowledge to make you the ideal volunteer imho.

  • They have a similar thing over here near to Meschers. Each year the local agricultural college put in a plastic barrier each side of about 1km of busy road. The toads sit & wait at the barrier & get carried across in buckets & then in the morning they get carried back. They have a team of about 30 & take it turns to do it, 2/3 people per shift. In 2013 they transported 2583 toads at this one crossing. Previously hundreds were squashed. The local authority also put a 30km/hr speed limit on the road for the duration of the migration between the forest & the ponds.

  • I thought I'd bump this up & put on a few of my local toads, frogs & newts too!

    The first is a Natterjack toad which we've only seen once but may have come in a load of building sand

    Then one day when I was mowing this little beauty jumped out in front of me & nearly got mowed, its a parsley frog

    the French call it a toad, but there you go.

    then we saw it again the following year, it came down the stairs & we found it on it's way to the bathroom! That was in 2011 & we've not seen it since.

    This is known as Toad in the Hole

    We leave roof tiles on the soil to attract the slugs & snails, & the toads make a little home there, breakfast in bed LOL!

    This is a salamandre we found when out butterfly hunting

    & a marbled newt photo from 1996!!

    & a more recent pair found when picnicing

    & I've left my favourite for last, A Green lizard,

    We see quite a lot of them & I love them they are so beautiful

    Anyone else got any photos?

    Tell all your friends about the help a toad cross the road campaign & maybe they'll find their prince charming!!

  • Thanks for posting those wonderful pictures Hazel, especially the Parsley frogs!

  • Lovely photos, Hazel.

    I haven't got any photos of toads but I can offer this Marsh Frog seen at RSPB Rainham.

    And what I believe is a Balkan Marsh Frog sitting on the shoulder of Richard Thaxton (of Loch Garten) in Lesvos in 2009.

    And a gorgeous Sicilian Wall Lizard from last September in Sicily.

  • Awesome shots TJ, your challenge this year, should you choose to accept it, is to get a toad photo. Best ask Richard first though if you want the toad to be sat on his shoulder!

  • You're on MrsT. I'll go and have a rummage in the compost heap. I'll leave Richard in peace though. He's got enough to contend with at LG and the return of the Ospreys.

  • They are great photos TJ, the Balkan marsh frog looks a bit like a Tree frog doesn't it. I love the Scicilian Wall lizard,it looks more colouful than ours.

    Got any snakes?

  • Hey, don't distract TJ from his mission Noisette ;)!

  • Sorry, I forgot it's hard for men to multitask. Ooooh! That was unfair wasn't it.