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'Significant year' for mating toads helped by patrols

Reuters A common toad is illuminated by torchlight as a volunteer from the Charlcombe Toad Rescue Group and Froglife assists it across a road during the annual migration to a nearby breeding lake.Reuters
This year's patrol saw the third-highest number of amphibians recorded since the road closure started in 2003

Volunteers have celebrated a "significant year" for mating toads as thousands have been saved thanks to an annual tradition.

A patrol group spent more than 600 hours guiding the amphibians across a half-mile (0.8km) stretch of Charlcombe Lane, near Bath, Somerset, to help them reach their ancestral breeding lake in the valley below.

This year saw the best turnout for toads (1,547) since 2012, the second-best for palmate newts (1,015) and the fourth-best for frogs (1,064) since the patrols began in 2003.

Helen Hobbs, patrol manager at the Charlcombe Toad Rescue Group, said "this feels like a significant year" for the local population.

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During a six-week period, more than 50 volunteers spent hundreds of hours in hi-vis jackets, armed with torches and buckets walking slowly up and down the road.

The creatures are picked up with latex-free, powder-free gloves and then transported in buckets to drop-off points.

Before the road closures, the casualty rate was 62%, compared to 6% in 2026.

Charlcombe Toad Rescue Group A green and brown toad sitting in the palm of someone's hand, who is wearing a white latex-free glove. Beside the bigger toad is a smaller red-brown one with its tiny back legs outstretched. Charlcombe Toad Rescue Group
The group has played a vital role in stabilising the local amphibian population

Hobbs said: "Against a background of many patrols seeing declining numbers of amphibians, having a relatively stable population really matters.

"With a changing climate it is becoming increasingly difficult to predict the peak times for amphibian movements, that is why closing the road for six weeks makes such a difference."

Hobbs explained two out of the last three years have seen a larger movement of amphibians before the road closure due to wet and mild weather.

"This led to much higher casualty rates at the start of the patrol, but thanks to the hard work of our volunteers we managed to keep the overall casualty rate down," she added.

The patrol is only one of four annual road toad closures in the UK.

'Hugely rewarding'

Volunteer Jonathan Lidster described the careful operation as a "highlight of the year".

"They probably don't appreciate it, but for me it's hugely rewarding to help the toads, frogs and newts on their way to the lake each year," he said.

"Just walking up and down the dark lane with a bucket and torch in the company of my fellow patrollers is a pleasure.

"An added bonus are the owls and the bats along with other hidden rustling nature. We never want it to end."

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