Common Toad, Bufo bufo, on brick edging in garden, Norfolk - Dawn Monrose
Go Toads! The Bodenham Toad Patrol
Toads have declined by an alarming 68% in the last 30 years for reasons including habitat loss and high road mortalities. Every year in spring, toads awake from hibernation and make a perilous journey back to their ancestral breeding ponds, often migrating across roads. In Bodenham village, these mass migrations can be witnessed along the lane adjacent to the nature reserve.
Bodenham Toad Patrol was established in 2016 by Herefordshire Wildlife Trust's Go Toads! Community Project and continues annually with the support of the local community. Our aim is to protect this local population during the spring annual migration to Bodenham Lake. The toads are collected and safely transported to the lakeside by the patrol team where they can find a mate and spawn.
This short film charts Herefordshire Wildlife Trust's Go Toads Project which ran in 2016. Since then we have continued to run toad patrols in Bodenham each year as the toads make their migration.