Updates to come soon

Our numbers are dropping and some evenings no toads have moved....though the health and safety situation turned for the worse for some of us

Getting out the vehicle I came face to face with a large Highland Cattle well there are six of them in the field which is where the toads cross.....

The gate to the lake is locked so Cressida has been releasing the toads as close as possible.

Tomorrow I will be visiting the site during the day to see if any spawn has arrived

The migration may continue until the middle of march well a few more days.....

At the end we will be going for a meal with all the volunteers who have helped out this year


Regards

Jon

Topping 100!

Well Done to Sue, Gina and Cressida

As they rescued over a hundred toads last night (n = 108), well done for your help hopefully more people will be out tonight for the migration from 7.30pm onwards.

I collected up around 25 to 30 toads last night for processing - I noticed that many toads were crossing the road the wrong way were these animals we had rescued previously - we will marking the toads to find out.......more info soon


Also I got some great photos of the toads along the footpath - I will post these soon

Keep an eye out for the first spawn!


Jon

The data dosent look good circa 1997 to 2001

Back at the start in 1997

The toad patrols along Drove Lane and Avington Park have been established since 1997 - this year is the tenth year -

Natalie Carpenter the original toad patroller has provided the previous data collected in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001

The numbers rescued seems to follow the national trend for the Common toad - i.e. numbers have declined over 4 years

Drove Lane this year has produced very few toads and a few frogs but no way near the numbers which were first rescued in 1997 - discussions are being made after this years patrol to see how the crossing can be de registered

At Avington Park things are looking better - we have rescued several hundred toads since 13th Feb - Good numbers of toads are already in the lake and we are waiting for the first spawn......

We will be going out again tonight. We have a migration period from around 14th Feb to 12th March so we still need volunteers!


Regards


Jon

A little mixed up

Frog on Toad could be a problem with the offspring?

A fantastic night

Imagine the scene, clear night sky with crisp stars across the sky, moonlight reflected in the expanse of Avington Park Lake and with a wall of sound emanating from the water......

A very distinctive sound of a frog/toad chorus

A good bucketful of toads were rescued from the road and the car park area - these are residing in my garage waiting to be processed (weighed & measured) and then released tonight...

I went down to the lake today and I found a grim discovery - after seeing the toads along the footpath - up to 56 adult toads and of course animals laying out in the shallows - it was little distressing to find body parts of female toads in the grassy edges of the pond

and a little way into the lake I found a dead female frog carefully cleaned out of her spawn


So what has eaten these animals?

Any Ideas please post some here


Jon

Looking like Thursday next week

The weather seems to be getting wetter this night so we may need to focus attention on this day -

Jon

The toads have gone to ground for now

After the activity on the 13th Feb - we still havent found toads crossing during our main time period of 7pm to around 9pm

This morning was quite wet so the toads may have crossed during the early morning (16th Feb).

I will be out tonight on a later shift between 9pm to around 11.30pm while Sue will be out tonight from 7pm to 9pm -

We would welcome any helpers at any time and for any time period 30mins to all night if you can bear it - the initials are as follows - JC = Jon C, MH = Mark H, S& G (Sue & Gina) CW = Cressida W - we need to make sure we can cover both sites over the main part of the night - 7pm to 11pm - we may have to go out in the early morning 12midnight to around 4am - possibly when toads are moving at that time though less traffic means less danger

Dates ----------- Times (already covered)
16th Feb --- 7 to 9pm (S & G) probably after 11am (JC)
17th Feb --- 7 to 8pm (S & G) - 8pm to 10pm (JC)
18th Feb --- 7 to 10pm (JC)
19th Feb --- 7 to 9pm (S & G) - 10pm to 11.30pm (JC)
20th Feb --- 7 to 9pm (S & G & JC)
21st Feb ---
22nd Feb ---
23rd Feb --- 7 to 9pm (S&G)
24th Feb ---
25th Feb ---
26th Feb --- 7 to 9pm (S&G)
27th Feb --- 7 to 9pm (S&G)
28th Feb --- 7 to 9pm (S&G)

March Dates to follow soon - if you can help with any of the above and future dates please let me know - info@herpetologic.co.uk

my tel 01962 733932

New High Visability Vests

Our new vests from ARG UK -

LInks

www.narrs.org.uk
National Amphibian & Reptile Recording Scheme

www.arg-uk.org.uk
Amphibian & Reptile Groups of the UK

www.herpetofauna.co.uk
The Reptile & Amphibian of the UK E forum


Some excellent links to websites which may be of interest

Feb 14th - Valentines Day

The saying dont work with animals and children became apparent last night......

We had two new volunteers - Sue and Gina - a mix up I also missed Cressida (SORRY!) we got to Drove lane ready to find the toads........the animals were not playing last night

We then went onto Avington Park with a BBC cameraman (Joe) was in attendance and it just wasnt the right conditions - clear sky, a little dry and quite cold - at Drove lane we had temperatures of 3.5C

Later on the temperature was -1.5C at Avington Park - on the 13th Feb the air temperature was 7.5C to 8C - wet and plenty of cloud - perfect conditions for the toads!

Luckily we did have some toads in hand to show our volunteers the differences between male and female toads

The weather forecast for tonight though seems better and we will be out again tonight from around 6.30pm - my number 01962 733932

The migration has started......

A few toads were seen along Drove lane on the 13th February - Cressida, Mark and myself had a recky over the two sites....details of what we found will be posted soon....

I thought great we can get the press involved with Valentines Day and our volunteers helping the toads to love etc

to be cont'd

It is almost time......

The night temperatures are getting into double figures 10 to 11C and so we will be preparing for our first set of nights checking for toads in Drove Lane and Avington Park........

A meet up will be this Tuesday at the Horse & Groom - probably around 6.45 to 7.15pm - you can email me to check for further details info@herpetologic.co.uk


Looking forward to this year's captures......

I will be putting up the previous years captures supplied by Natalie Carpenter (thanx) and I will also be posting past news items etc


Jon

First casualty reported

A toad copped it on Drove lane over he last few days - I went to inspect the road tonight, no moving toads at around 7.30pm - also Avington Park - no toads

I am looking at logo printed high vis vests for our volunteers and I will be getting 25 large vests for our volunteers (so you can get jumpers underneath)

At around 8pm called local restaurant for a well deserved curry and a beer from Naked Grape

I think that the meet up will be very soon if the warm or mild weather continues.......

Signs go up for 2007 -

Signs have been erected in Drove Lane and Avington Park - Winchester

Helping toads in Alresford

Getting ready for the crossings

A visit will be completed later today with Natalie Carpenter who ran the previous crossings....

More background info will be posted soon

No Animals found yet

Before the weekend (I was at the Herp Workers Meeting) I ventured over the two known toad crossings in Alresford and Avington Park.

No bodies yet found on the road but over the last few days there has been reasonable mild weather which may spark the migration off

I will be going up to the crossing sites today to see if there are any signs of toads crossing......

A meet up for all the volunteers who have contacted me will be arranged in the next few days and it will be at the Horse & Groom Pub in Alresford - if anyone would like to attend then please email me info@herpetologic.co.uk or a ring 01962 733932

Cheers

Jon

First walk along Drove Lane

I went along Drove lane today to see if any toads had moved over the warmer weather prior to the cold weather now (snow may be coming) so the toads crossing this road may be chilled into submission and stay where they are until later in the spring......

Welcome to the Toad Patrol in Alresford, Hampshire

This is info about the toad patrol which is in operation in Alresford and Avington. Many toads cross local roads to get to their breeding ponds and it is around this time of year that we need help collecting toads from the road and safely to their breeding ponds.

I am looking for local volunteers who would like to help with this toad patrol and also to help with further survey work in and around Winchester

my contact details - info@herpetologic.co.uk 01962 733932

We will be having a meet up at the Horse and Groom Pub soon.....please email me for more details


Jon Cranfield