Busy road to be closed for six weeks to allow toads, frogs and newts to cross it

The Charlcombe Toad Rescue Group in Somerset is hoping to help more than 3,000 amphibians reach their ancestral lake in the valley below, but it is set to cause chaos for motorists

A road will be closed for the next six weeks – to allow toads, frogs and newts to cross it.

The Charlcombe Toad Rescue Group in Somerset is hoping to help more than 3,000 amphibians reach their ancestral lake in the valley below. More than 50,000 of the creatures have been recorded as safely making the crossing in the previous 23 years since the closure order was made.

Before it was introduced on the road in 2003 the casualty rate was 62 per cent but last year it was just three per cent. Charlcombe Lane, near Bath, will be shut from February 9 until March 29 as volunteers go out on patrol each night at dusk to help common toads, common frogs and newts on their journey.

Collectively they will spend more than 600 hours in hi-vis jackets, armed with torches and buckets walking slowly up and down the road. Toads, frogs and newts are carefully picked up with latex-free, powder-free gloves, to avoid any chemicals from volunteer hands affecting them, and taken safely in buckets to drop-off points.

Last year more than 50 volunteers helped 3,995 amphibians across a half-mile stretch — the second-best year recorded and the first time in the patrol’s history a great crested newt was seen. The annual closure each spring has the agreement of Bath and North East Somerset Council and is one of only four road closures in the UK.

Helen Hobbs, who has been managing Charlcombe Toad Rescue Group since 2003, said: “Closing Charlcombe Lane, with the support of the local community, has been a game changer. It has meant that our population of toads, frogs and newts have been able to buck national trends and stand a fighting chance of flourishing.

“With a changing climate it is becoming increasingly difficult to predict the peak times for amphibian movements. That is why closing the road for six weeks makes such a difference.”

However, animals can have some detrimental consequences for humans despite our best efforts to look after them. Residents in the town of Mablethorpe were inundated when a slew of badgers rocked up to the town, causing some roads to even collapse.

The Lincolnshire town had appealed to the local council in order to tackle the animal influx, as they were causing a nuisance and damaging infrastructure. However, the decision to deal with the badgers had left homeowners divided, as some admitted they were nice to see “walking up the road”.

Des Barnett, who had been living in the town for three years, said the traffic lights were more troublesome than the badgers, but admitted: “Something’s got to be done with the badgers, I believe. There’s no natural predator for badgers so I don’t know what the answer is.

“I don’t want anything untoward to happen to them but I’m a believer that they’ve got to be controlled in certain areas. The road collapsed and was like a little sinkhole; it’s a dangerous corner so the work had to be done.”

For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.