FROG fans are encouraging the public to protect toads during migration season.

The 'Toads on Roads' campaign sees volunteers try to protect the amphibians while they move ponds in early spring.

Labelling it a 'splended mass migration that is easy to miss', the organisers of one 'toad patrol' note that the animals are yet to develop road sense.

In fact, their vehicle avoidance skills are so poor that campaigners believe it contributes to the toad population going into decline, with thousands killed on the roads each year.

In East Lockinge, near Wantage, volunteers say that every year hundreds are killed on a small stretch between a winter hibernation area and breeding pond.

Volunteer Lucy Singer explained: "I love doing my bit for wildlife, and I get so much pleasure from it myself. It is amazing how these tiny creatures are propelled through the undergrowth to the pond they hatched in.

"I generally intend to only go out for an hour at most, but it is so peaceful, with owls hooting overhead and toads squeaking (I didn't know they squeaked) that I generally stay out for much longer."

She added that patrols go out on warm, damp evenings and help toads across the road.

Last year, she said they helped 1,700, 'mostly in an intense two weeks'.

The group are looking for more volunteers - for details visit froglife.org/what-we-do/toads-on-roads/ or contact froglife.648@gmail.com