The 'toad patrol' helping hundreds cross the road

A member of a "toad patrol" group says the army of volunteers have helped more than 4,000 toads, as well as "quite a few" frogs and some smooth newts.

Milly Kennedy is part of the Henley Toad Patrol that helps the amphibians cross the busy A4155 between Henley in Oxfordshire and Marlow in Buckinghamshire.

She said the amphibians migrated for about three months at the end of winter "from the woods to the pond to mate and to spawn and then they come back again".

Milly, who loves toads so much that she had one tattooed on her arm, said it was "really rewarding" to help local nature.

The process involves volunteers collecting toads in buckets to carry them across the road.

"It starts around the beginning of February and normally starts to slow down and end by the start of April."

She said the males would be "cuddling" the female and travel on their backs as they carry them across.

"We have to have two buckets - we have to have a bucket for the mating pair and then we have a bucket for the singles," Milly said.

"Although they're probably [thinking] 'what's happening?', we save them quite a long trip and we save them those dangers."

Milly added: "The toads particularly move quite slowly and it's just avoiding them having any accidents... so that they can continue doing this journey every single year."

She said she had not been allowed to join the patrol as a child due to the "very busy and dangerous" road.

"You're not allowed to until you're over 18 - we have to wear high-vis jackets."

She said she had got involved after moving back to the Henley area and had been doing it for about eight years.

"It's really just quite rewarding to be able to help our UK and our Berkshire nature," Milly said.

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