Toad patrol set up in West Yorkshire market town to help toads cross the road to spawn

Every year, hundreds of toads are killed crossing East Busk Lane in Otley, as they migrate to a pond near the roadside.

Now, after a call for help from Wildlife Friendly Otley for the second year running, some 30 volunteers armed with buckets, torches and high visibility jackets have come to their aid.

Two volunteers said it had been a great evening, holding a toad for the first time in their 60s and 80s. Another said her son was overjoyed with his bucket of four squeaking males.

It is a "common misconception" that toads live in water year round, organisers said, when instead they migrate en masse each spring in the breeding season.

This particular toad crossing would be under serious threat if a proposed link road in the East of Otley Development was ever to go ahead, campaigners added.

Numbers seen here are monitored and reported back to Froglife and the West Yorkshire Ecology Service.

Rob Tindall of Wildlife Friendly Otley said: "It is just a great thing to do, and with a real hands-on approach it is an amazing introduction to helping wildlife.

"The data we are collecting is really helping science understand more about the toad populations around the country. It is exactly the kind of thing our group wants to protect and cherish."

Charity trustee Neil Griffin said the toads' compulsion to cross was incredible, relying on lunar and magnetic cues as well as their sight and sound.

"As with all migrations there’s something awesome about their instinctive compulsion to undertake this risky journey at the same time every year," he said.

To find out more or volunteer contact Wildlife Friendly Otley at [email protected].