t’s slow-moving but time flies. It’s meditative and weirdly exhausting. There’s jeopardy, exhilaration and the awakening of powerful protective feelings. And, on a good night, there’s cold rain trickling down the back of your neck.
Welcome to the world of toading, where endangered amphibians are rescued from lethal roads as they make their annual nocturnal pilgrimage to their mating grounds.
Charlcombe Toad Rescue, on the edge of Bath, is one of the busiest groups, and particularly hectic on a Thursday night of torrential rain.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Welcome to the world of toading, where endangered amphibians are rescued from lethal roads as they make their annual nocturnal pilgrimage to their mating grounds.
Charlcombe Toad Rescue, on the edge of Bath, is one of the busiest groups, and particularly hectic on a Thursday night of torrential rain.
As the roads turned into rivers in the hills above Bath, volunteers brandishing high-powered torches raced ahead of slow-moving traffic on Charlcombe Lane, picking up crawling toads, jumping frogs and statuesque newts which are indistinguishable from twigs on the dark tarmac.
I don’t know whether scientists can measure those feelings,” said Mike Collins, a volunteer who leaves his warm house with his wife, Angela, on wet nights in February and March to rescue amphibians in peril.
Now the fatality rate is down to 3% thanks to the volunteers, who also raise £1,500 each year to pay for the road to be closed for the six-week migration season, although the lane is still busy with cars accessing local houses and the church.
The area is particularly good for amphibians because of Bath’s springs, but the population is dependent upon the preservation of a small, privately owned lake where they breed.
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