Crossing patrol saving more toads from road carnage

Volunteers running crossing patrols for toads said the number saved has risen by a quarter in a year.

The Seahouses Toads on Roads group looks after the amphibians making their way to their springtime breeding grounds in a pond next to the B1340 road, north of the Northumberland town.

Patrols have ended for 2026 during which 1,894 toads were helped across the road, up from 1,497 in 2025.

Founder Claire Watson-Armstrong said: "What is even more encouraging is how much drivers, cars, buses, delivery vans were all slowing down and helping us to keep the toads safe."

The group is part of a national campaign by the charity Froglife to help halt the decline of the common toad.

Its research suggests their numbers have fallen by 41% in the last 40 years in Britain with road mortality one of the key causes.

Watson-Armstrong began the group in 2024 after witnessing "the carnage of so many toads being squashed year after year" and each year since then the number of toads who have survived the crossing has increased.

In addition, the number of toads killed has also fallen from 258 in 2025 to 207 in 2026.

"We help frogs and newts too and we also rubbish pick so we're quite versatile," Watson-Armstrong said.

"We've become a really lovely group of friends and it's just absolutely wonderful to know that we are making a difference and the numbers really speak for themselves.

"I just hope there will be even more next year because we're going to keep going for as long as we're needed."

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