This road in London has been closed for more than three weeks to enable toads to cross safely and reach the ponds where they breed.
The 400-meter section of the Church Road in Richmond, southwest of London, is unavailable to motorists until the start of April.
The Road Is Being Patroled by the Charity Froglife Volunteers
The closure is done so that the toads aren’t crushed during their annual mating migration. The toad patrol volunteers are recruited by Charity Froglife. They say this road is one of several streets entirely closed to traffic during the toads’ migration to the ponds.
The volunteers patrol the road that turns through a leafy stretch of Richmond Park at night; however, the road is blocked off the whole day.
The closure of the road started on March 7th and it will stay in place until April 1st.
One of the signs placed on the street that are blocking Church Road explains why the road is closed. Namely, this is done with the intention to give toads a safe passage through to the ponds where they mate.
Thanks to the closure of traffic, the chance of accidents in case of distracted drivers, is brought to a minimum.
This closure isn’t new to the area.
The Road Closure of this Road Has Been Going on for more than a Decade
The local council began closing off this road in the 2010 toad mating season after they got comments from worried citizens about toads being run over during their migration.
The locals aren’t bothered by the loss of access to a road for a month. Church Road is a quiet street and there are only a couple of houses so the diversion isn’t very long.
The genuine sign warning drivers that the road is closed because of migrating toads’ safety and that there are volunteers on the road hasn’t prevented curious passersby from poking at the eco-friendly closure.
Several walkers stop and take photos of the road signs, almost every day during the closure.
For one of them, 67-year-old retired IT manager Robert Brown, a resident of Richmond, having this consideration for toads and their safety is impressive. He believes this is a very British thing to do.
Another passerby, Chris Cann, said that this is very cute and that England is the only place where you would see a road being closed to allow safe passage to migrating toads.
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