While listening to BBC 4 Radio’s wonderful “World on the Move” program (on podcast, of course), I discovered the existence of an organization with which I was not previously familiar: Froglife. Froglife is a UK wildlife charity based in Peterborough that is committed to the conservation of amphibians and reptiles.
With the spring migration underway and the somewhat unusual weather presently being experienced in England, one of the most prominent activities of Froglife at this time is their Toads on Roads campaign for 2008. The premise is quite simple – as toads, as well as frogs and newts, emerge from their winter hibernation, they instictively move toward bodies of water in order to breed. This journey frequently requires them to cross roadways.
Froglife enlists volunteers all across the UK to discover places of high amphibian road crossing activity and monitor it in order to ensure the highest number of safe crossings. Froglife then uses the information passed back to it by these Toad Patrols in order to register official crossing locations to secure signs and markings that alert drivers to the presence of migrating amphibians in the area.
Of course, Froglife is engaged in a host of other activities as well as establishing safe crossing areas for migrating amphibians. They are working to discover new information on diseases affecting amphibians and reptiles, seeking to promote the expansion of public understanding of these ecologically important creatures, and establishing themselves as a resource for classroom educators.
If you, as was I until only recently, are unfamiliar with Froglife and their activities, I encourage you to visit their website and learn more about the organization as well as the issues important to amphibian and reptile conservation. It’s quite interesting and otherwise all too often under-attended my many amateur naturalists.
Peace and good toad patrolling.
