Talking Toads

As part of Froglife’s Tuppence a Toad campaign, we have been spreading the word far and wide about the plight of common toads on roads. Our education team hosted an interactive exhibition for National Science and Engineering Week, featuring a giant toad lollipop lady! The project was led by the young people on Froglife’s Green Pathways scheme and over 400 members of the public visited the exhibition in Peterborough city centre.

The installation consisted of a carpet road and cardboard car, which separated three small toads from their pond. Thankfully, the toad lollipop lady was there to help. Interactive ‘Scales of Justice’ enabled visitors to compare the 20 tonnes of toads that die on roads each year to equivalent weights of humans, cats, or elephants. Giant lily pad cushions provided a space for learning to make origami toads.

It took the hard work of young people from six Peterborough schools, two after school groups, young offenders from the Froglife Active Conservation Team, 1st Yaxley Brownies and Froglife’s Wildlife Ambassadors to pull together the remarkable exhibit. Perkins Learning Centre, Mears Workshop, Peterborough City Council, St John the Baptist Church and Opportunity Peterborough all donated the use of their facilities. The event was ‘Highly Commended’ in the Outstanding Achievement Award category from the British Science Association. National Science and Engineering Week is a great way for Froglife to develop our fun and exciting approach to environmental science education.

We have also been getting the message out about toads through the media – with Froglife staff and Toad Patrollers appearing on radio, in newspapers, magazines and online. As much as we can, we have been matching interested volunteers with their local patrols, or helping re-establish lost groups.

Toad Patrollers up and down the country have been rescuing toads over the last few weeks, with some toads still on the move. We will be announcing the grand total moved in 2011 later in the year when data from the Patrols comes in.

Keep your eyes out for those toads! And to all you Toad Patrollers out there – don’t forget you can submit your crossing data online!

Thank you for Fun and Fundraising with Froglife

We just wanted to say a big thank you to all the generous people who donated auction items and money to help make our Evening at Toad Hall a great success on Saturday 2nd April. We had a stunning range of items, and lots of bidding wars over them! Special thanks also go to our glamorous MC Nathalie Cox, Mike Dilger for his entertaining talk, and Willie Thorne for being a brilliant auctioneer.

Froglife staff, trustees, volunteers, partners, friends and family pulled out all the stops to make the night fun and welcoming for guests. Scalextrix racing, a giant board game, a toad drive, and other silly activities helped gather in small change to help make Froglife make a big difference.
We’re still adding up the grand total, which is going towards our ongoing Tuppence a Toad campaign to support the hard working volunteers rescuing thousands of toads every spring. Another thank you goes to all of the people up and down the UK who have been going out to help toads make it safely to their breeding ponds over the last few weeks.

Many toads like our mascots Widdy and Wigbert have made it to their favourite ponds to lay their long strands of spawn, thanks to hard working volunteers. Hopefully, this will be a good year, with lots of little toadlets emerging from the water in summer. Keep an eye out for toadspawn in a pond near you!

If you would like to find out more or donate to Froglife’s Tuppence a Toad campaign, please click here: http://www.froglife.org/tuppence/

Some of the Froglife Team with Mike Dilger