Volunteers patrol to stop toad 'massacres'

Volunteers are doing their part to stop a toad "massacre" in a Sussex village, as they take to the roads and help migrating amphibians get to their spawning sites.

During toad migration season, the animals come out of hibernation and cross Litlington Road in the Cuckmere Valley.

They are aiming for freshwater to spawn, and volunteers from the East Sussex village of Litlington say they want to help them get there safely.

Penny Aeberhard is behind the organised patrol that is now running, although she says she has been told people have been helping toads across for a long time.

With support and advice from Froglife, a national wildlife conservation charity, she has organised a patrol along a 2.5 mile (4km) stretch of road.

"There are toads either side of us but we need to be realistic. This is our first year, and we just have to get it as right as we can," she said.

"After the first night we realised that the big massacres were happening as people are travelling from south to north as they're coming home from work, Monday to Friday," Ms Aeberhard said.

"They're driving too fast, you have to go at 15-20 mph maximum to avoid these little critters."

But she said the patrol was "not for the feint-hearted" and outlined some of the risks to those taking part.

"Too dark, too cold, too wet, too slippery, fall into a pothole, break an ankle or whatever, or get hit by a car," she said.

"Froglife insists, very rightly, that we look at risk assessment because we don't want squashed people on the roads, as much as we don't want squashed toads."

Froglife said the Toads on Roads project has been running for over twenty years and in 2023 recorded 115,177 toads helped at toad crossings.

Vanessa Rowlands has lived in the Cuckmere valley for 20 years and also goes out on toad patrol.

"Coming out and just saving some toads has been really really good for my mental health," she explained.

On the first of this year's shifts, she said volunteers helped 280 toads cross the road, with 70 deaths, and the following evening helped 370 toads with 45 deaths.

At the end of a shift she said she feels "really happy, and also slightly anxious that I'm not going to be out for the rest of them".

"We have made a big difference," she Ms Rowlands said.

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