Ringwood & Poulner Toad Patrol

Would you crawl across a busy road to find a mate?

Imagine you’re a toad. It’s January, and you’re starting to think about finding a mate. So when dusk falls, and your skin tells you it’s five degrees or warmer, you make your way down from the woods where you’ve spent the winter to the Blashford Lakes.

If you’re a male toad, you’re looking for a female. If you’re a female, you’re looking to lay your eggs down by the water’s edge. And then a few weeks later, as the breeding season comes to an end, you’ll start to make your way back.

Both your journeys are fraught with terrible danger. You have to crawl twice across the busy road that runs between North Poulner and Moyles Court. You’re at huge risk of being crushed under the wheels of a car.

But you’re a toad. You move very slowly. And the cars are coming straight at you. So unless you have help, you probably won’t make it.

That’s where we come in. Like many other voluntary groups around the country, we take turns in the evening to drive slowly up and down the road where the toads cross … stopping to pick up any we see and carry them safely to the other side of the road.

RP Toad Patrol - rescuing toads in Ringwood and Poulner

2232 toads saved in 2021

The Ringwood and Poulner Toad Patrol volunteers saved 2232 toads in 2021! Great work team!

250+ cross in 1 night

There are sometimes as many as 250+ toads trying to cross at peak times on a single night.

30+ years

Ringwood and Poulner Toad Patrol was set up in 1989 by local conservationist Teresa Baker.

5 degrees and warmer

At 5 degrees and warmer, on wet nights, the toads decide to cross - between Jan and April

Help us protect toads

THANK YOU to New Forest Web Design

for our website which they have gifted - to help us help the toads.
www.newforestwebdesign.com

New Forest Web Design - NewForestWebDesign