Toads at risk as sponsor hops it

Migrating toads need to be able to cross the road safely

Wildlife enthusiasts must find a new sponsor if they are to avoid a breeding disaster for toads which must cross a Nottinghamshire highway.

Hundreds of toads cross the road at Oxton to reach their spawning grounds.

For the past seven years residents have closed Beanford Lane for a month to stop the toads getting run over.

But now a sponsor has pulled out and villagers need to find £500 to pay a motoring organisation to supervise the road's closure.

Unlike frogs, toads just waddle across the road and can't jump out of the way Margaret Cooper, Oxton toad project

Margaret Cooper, from the Oxton toad project, said the animals returned to their breeding grounds each year and often travelled up to a mile (1.6km) to get there.

"They cross this very busy road all along the road, so it's no good saying we'll just patrol the middle of it," she said.

In previous years Severn Trent underwrote the AA's charge for barricades and road closure signs.

But this year the water company decided it could not continue with its sponsorship.

Ms Cooper added: "Unlike frogs, toads just waddle across the road and can't jump out of the way.

"We normally have the road closed in March but it's been very dry and cold. The toads want warm, wet weather before they mate.

"We really do need to close that road if we're going to protect the toads when they migrate to their spawning grounds."