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Drink up — to save a toad




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Money is needed to ensure a road closure that protects toads crossing a ford can go ahead next year.

Beanford Lane, Oxton, was probably the first road in the world to be closed for toads.

It has its tenth anniversary next year, but in 2008 it has its own special tipple.

The road is closed throughout March. Villagers patrol other lanes as toads migrate from their hibernation habitat to wetlands to breed.

About 1,000 common toads migrate each year and it is feared about half would otherwise be killed.

The cost of closure is about £800 a year. The AA puts up barriers and there are legal costs incurred by Nottinghamshire County Council.

The money is covered by donations and money raised at events. A recent coffee morning raised £103.

Castle Rock Brewery of Nottingham has produced a beer called Mr Toad to coincide with the annual road closure and has agreed to finance the rest of this year’s costs.

Mrs Margaret Cooper, of Main Street, Oxton, organises the closure of Beanford Lane and the volunteers who patrol Blind Lane.

Wearing fluorescent jackets and rubber gloves, about six volunteers collect toads in buckets and transfer them from one side of the road to the other.

Mrs Cooper said the volunteers carried out patrols only on wet, warm evenings when toads were most likely to cross.

A spokesman for Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, Mr Erin McDaid, said toads’ wetland habitats were being built on or dried for agricultural use.

He said: “Thankfully, there are now similar closures across the country, but we still struggle to raise the funds to cover the cost of the closure at Beanford Lane.

“Local volunteers do a great job raising money but we still need more so the awareness raised by Castle Rock producing Mr Toad can only be beneficial.”

He said: “As we prepare for the tenth anniversary it would be great to know we had the money in the bank to cover the bills.”

Mr Colin Wilde, a commercial director at Castle Rock Brewery, said the beer would be on sale at pubs including the Fox and Crown in Newark while stocks lasted.



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