Toad Watch 2025

Transcript

00:00Overall we've had, I think it's 868 this year. We're aware that some of these might be returners

00:10because once they've bred they'll go back again and whilst the main breeding pond is down at the

00:17bottom of Boundary Road there are other ponds that are in the woods as well so we're still

00:21working out exactly the details of that. I think the highlight, I'll pass on to Myung-ha in a

00:27moment because she had the big highlight night but I think the highlight for me has been the fact

00:33that we've saved a lot of toes from being squashed because they are a biodiversity action plan species

00:37and 68% decline over the last 30 years but equally I think it's great about the range of volunteers

00:45that are interested in getting involved and I think that's down to Myung-ha doing some really

00:49good work and getting wider groups involved. The highlight was the day we saved like two

00:57120 you know toes and frog you know that during the one night the heavily rainy day and you know

01:08volunteers running around but like Lisa said my real highlight is how popular our Toad Watch group

01:20has become and Lisa founded this group in 2012 and when most people had never heard of and she

01:33you know I expressed I described like you know she you know she planted the seeds where most people

01:41had never heard of and now I mean how beautifully you know she harvested and so many people I even received

01:51the message like from Midhurst this mother wants to come with her son and so many people and I I'm

02:01receiving so much you know so many comments from everywhere whether they are volunteers or not.

02:08Some people do tend to slow down when they see the high viz and we're very grateful for that but I

02:14think generally if you see anything that's got sort of like woods around you at this time of year which

02:20can be any time depending on the weather from the end of January through to where we are now the

02:26beginning of April please think to slow down because they're incredibly hard to spot even for us walking

02:31so in a car where you've got headlights it can be almost impossible it's not the driver's fault but

02:35just go slow and then you have got more awareness because as Myung-hae said Frog Life particularly

02:42have been doing a lot even more publicity over the last couple of years and people are more aware of

02:47there are tow patrols which is fantastic news