Cambridge trail users urged to watch out for crossing toads

A number of signs have appeared along a section of the Chisholm Trail, a new walking and cycling route, in Cambridge

People using a new walking and cycling route are being urged not to step on or kill crossing toads.

The amphibians have been making their way across the Chisholm Trail, in Cambridge, to spawn in nearby water.

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Amphibian and Reptile Group (CPARG) said volunteers had moved about 200 in recent weeks.

The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) said a temporary corridor had been created for toads to migrate.

Volunteers of all ages have helped to move the toads.....

that were picked up and taken to nearby water

Steve Allain, CPARG's chairman, said: "We've been moving them off the trail and into the water so their bodies can breath and hopefully breed the next generation.

"Please be aware of them, on the move, as they can go slow in those areas. Unfortunately toads aren't the fastest of animals so they can sit like deers in headlights."

He said he was "humbled" by the dedicated volunteers who worked to save them.

His next job was to officially register the trail as a road crossing, he said.

Walkers, runners and cyclists have been warned to watch their feet as colourful signs have appeared

Suzanne Little, who coordinated the patrols, said more than 10 signs made by pupils at Cambourne Village College would soon be taken down once the spawning season was over and would be put back up next year.

She said toads started to come "from everywhere" as they had become "confused" by the new trail and about 12 volunteers worked in the dark to put them in buckets and take them across to the lake.

Signs have been put up on fencing to warn passer-by's that toads are in danger of being "stepped on"

A spokesman for the GCP, who built the trail as a joint project with Cambridgeshire County Council, said: "All our projects have a full ecological survey before any work is carried out and this was done ahead of construction of the Chisholm Trail.

"We continuously work with ecologists throughout our work and, following their advice, we created a temporary corridor through the fencing to enable toads to migrate to Barnwell Lake."