Toad bonanza!

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For the past couple of weeks the toad patrol have been out every evening, watching for toads emerging from their winter sleep and heading over to the breeding ponds. The weather has certainly been warm enough (warmest February on record) but also very dry. We’ve picked up a few brave ones venturing out every night, but we just knew the rest must be waiting there under the dead leaves, biding their time until the rains came. And last night it certainly did. First we had some really heavy showers in the afternoon, to moisten the ground. Then just at dusk it started to drizzle, then to rain harder, and then to really pour down. Thankfully the call had gone out for plenty of volunteers, and as many of the team as could make it did turn out, including four new people. We each patrolled a stretch of roadside, picking up one or two toads here and there, and after about an hour one or two people started to question whether the rush was over…. but oh no it had hardly started! Every time I walked past the collections of buckets on the verge there were more and more toads there so I knew my few captures were only a small part of the picture. Once it was really wet there were toads popping out all over, and we were running up and down grabbing them from in front of oncoming cars. It was a bit stressful at times but exciting and fun too. By 10:30 pm the traffic had largely died down, so most of us decided to release the toads we had collected near to their breeding ponds and then head home. Just counting them took a while, it was a bumper day, with over 500 male toads, about 120 females, about 50 frogs and a couple of newts too (final counts are not in yet as a couple of people stayed on). The best thing was that having so many people there – 13 volunteers I think, though not all at the same time – made such a difference. In past years we’ve really struggled on busy nights, with only 3 or 4 people to cover a mile of road; you can imagine it’s impossible to avoid toads being squashed when they pop out behind your back at one end of your ‘patch’ and it’s horrible to see them smeared on the tarmac or to glimpse one in the headlights of a car when it’s too late to get to it. Last night we only lost a very small proportion so it was very gratifying to see them all walking away unharmed in the wet grass. We’ll be back out tonight, I wonder what we’ll find? It’s dry today – perhaps that was it and everyone has crossed, or perhaps there are others waiting for another wet night. The photo shows one of our volunteers with two rescuees – aren’t they gorgeous? All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2019.