Each spring, common toads migrate from their hibernation site to a suitable breeding pond, and as they are creatures of habit, our amphibious friends prefer to return to the same pond year on year. 

As you can imagine, the sudden development of a road can lead to some risky toad crossings! So, to help protect them on their way back to their ponds, volunteers form toad patrols to give them a helping hand on their way home. 

These patrols involve monitoring a stretch of road and, with the use of a handy bucket, taking toads from one side of the road to the other safely.  

With spring just around the corner, it is that time of year again where your county’s toads need you! There are patrols taking place across Nottinghamshire and, if you can spare some of your time for our amphibian friends, there is an easy way to get involved. 

The charity Froglife's ‘Toads on Roads’ project facilitates patrols every year across the UK, but since last year the Nottinghamshire Amphibian and Reptile group (NARG) have coordinated their own. To get involved with these toad patrols in your area, simply email the group with your location. 

NARG will then provide all the guidance needed to run a patrol in your local area and save the lives of countless toads. If there are multiple toad patrollers around you, NARG will help you put together a toad taskforce. Past patrols have occurred in Strelley, Papplewick and Oxton.  

All you will need is a bucket, torch, an item of hi-vis clothing to keep yourself safe and a phone or notepad to record your data. By keeping a tally of the number of alive (and sadly also any dead) toads, NARG can use this to inform their future work.  

Last year, over 600 toads were saved from busy roads and this year Toad Patrol Coordinator Maiya for NARG hopes to save even more. 

“Toad patrols are important as toads have declined by 60% over the last 30 years. By having these patrols, it can help prevent populations from rapidly declining or even completely disappearing from the area. They help maintain and increase populations of all amphibians that may be crossing these busy roads”. 

More patrols mean more volunteers and more toads safe at home in their ponds! Though a migration period can last a couple of weeks, volunteers are welcome to dedicate any time they can. As toads typically start their journey after dark, these patrols often take place for an hour or two after dusk and is easy to fit around volunteers’ schedules.

Toad patrol volunteers don’t need to be members of NARG, they just need to be handy with a bucket and willing to spare their time to help protect one of our native species. 

"Toads are often overlooked, but they play a vital role in our ecosystems, they make for great natural 'pest control' by eating slugs, worms and other insects. But they also provide food for predators like herons, otters, grass snakes and even birds of prey”.