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  "path": "/news/somerset-news-bath-road-closed-toad-migration",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-09T22:04:21.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "Keir Starmer tells MPs ‘I’ve won every fight I’ve been in’ as he clings to job",
    "MI5 issues major warning to British universities over threat from China",
    "Scientists unearth remarkably well-preserved fossil with dinosaur skin still attached",
    "two new licences allowing wild beavers to be released at sites across south-west England.",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\n\nA road in Somerset will close for six weeks to allow thousands of toads, frogs and newts to make their annual journey to breeding grounds.\n\nCharlcombe Lane, near Bath, will shut from February 9 until March 29 as volunteers from the Charlcombe Toad Rescue Group patrol the route each evening at dusk.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nWearing high-vis jackets and armed with torches and buckets, they will spend more than 600 hours helping an estimated 3,000 amphibians cross safely to their ancestral lake in the valley below.\n\nThe annual closure, in place each spring since 2003 with the agreement of Bath and North East Somerset Council, is one of only four such road shutdowns in the UK.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe council’s measures have played a crucial role in stabilising the local amphibian population.\n\nBefore the scheme began, the casualty rate for the toads reached 62 per cent.\n\nBy 2025, it had fallen to just 3 per cent.\n\nLast year was the second-best on record for amphibian numbers, and for the first time, a rare great crested newt was spotted.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTwo of the three busiest years for the patrol have been 2024 and last year, although the peak remains 2010.\n\nIn 2025, more than 50 volunteers helped 3,995 amphibians along a half-mile stretch of road, bringing the total assisted over 23 years to more than 50,000.\n\nHelen Hobbs, who has managed the group since 2003, said: “Closing Charlcombe Lane, with the support of the local community, has been a game-changer.\n\n“It has meant that our population of toads, frogs and newts have been able to buck national trends and stand a fighting chance of flourishing.”\n\n### LATEST DEVELOPMENTS\n\n\n\n\n  * Keir Starmer tells MPs ‘I’ve won every fight I’ve been in’ as he clings to job\n  * MI5 issues major warning to British universities over threat from China\n  * Scientists unearth remarkably well-preserved fossil with dinosaur skin still attached\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nMs Hobbs added that climate change has made peak migration harder to predict, making the six-week closure essential.\n\nResearch published last year found the UK’s common toad population has fallen by 41 per cent in four decades.\n\nThreats to wildlife included road traffic, habitat loss, intensive farming and milder winters disrupting hibernation.\n\nAcross Britain, more than 200 patrols now operate during migration season, carefully carrying amphibians in latex-free gloves and buckets to safety.\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nIt comes as efforts to promote Britain's ancient natural wildlife have gained ground across the country. Last week, Natural England approved two new licences allowing wild beavers to be released at sites across south-west England.\n\nThe animals will be introduced at the National Trust’s Holnicote Estate on Exmoor and at a Cornwall Wildlife Trust site in the centre of the county.\n\nThe approvals mark only the second and third occasions that beavers have been licensed for wild release since the Government took the landmark decision to allow their return to English rivers.\n\nBeavers are known for dramatically reshaping landscapes by building dams, ponds and channels, creating habitats for other species while also helping to reduce flooding and mitigate drought.\n\nThe species was wiped out in Britain more than 400 years ago after being hunted for fur, meat and scent glands.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n**Our Standards:The GB News Editorial Charter**",
  "title": "Council will close road for 6 WEEKS to allow for major toad migration"
}