WILTSHIRE TIMES (UK) 17 January 07 Toads in a hole (John Ballard)
A councillor wants the people of Edington to get involved in a project to prevent toads being squashed on the roads.
Julie Swabey, a district and county councillor who lives in Edington, is trying to form a toad conservation group and get road signs put up in the village.
Between February and early May large numbers of toads have to cross village roads as they make their way to a pond by the Priory Church.
Cllr Swabey said: "I'm a wildlife fanatic and something needs to be done to stop these toads being run over.
"Ideally we could do with at least six people, although 10 would be a better number, who will volunteer to come out when it starts to drizzle or rain and pick the toads up and move them to the other side of the road so they can make their way to the pond.
"It would be really good if we could get some children involved because they are a very important part of the village, and also people from other areas would be welcome to come along if they wanted to help out."
Until 2003 there was a group in Edington that went around saving toads from an untimely end, but when Edwin George, the man behind the scheme, left the village the group folded.
As well as having volunteers to guide the toads to safety, Cllr Swabey feels it is important to put up signs urging motorists to be careful.
"Unfortunately when a car comes along toads just freeze and that's how so many of them get killed," she said.
"I'm hoping the parish council might be willing to pay for four or five signs and the sooner we get them put up the better.
"Toads tend to come out after dusk which unfortunately coincides with the rush hour."
To put up signs an area has to register with Froglife, an organisation that sets out guidelines to reduce injury and deaths of amphibians on the roads, which Edington has done.
Wiltshire County Council is behind the project, so when the money is found there should be no difficulty in putting the signs in place. The signs will be portable so they can be removed at the end of the toads migrating season.
They have to be taken down by April 30.
Anybody who would like to get involved in the project can contact Mrs Swabey on (01380) 830043 or email julieswabey@wiltshire.gov.uk
Toads in a hole

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