TEMPORARY highway signs will be put in place to help the work of the Winscombe Hill Toad Patrol (WTP).

The community group go on regular patrols to help migrating toads, ensuring that they don't cross busy roads on the journey back to their ancestral breeding ponds.

Volunteers brave the cold and the rain to get out and save these toads, ensuring that they are travelling on a safer route.

The local group is part of the 'Toads on Roads' network, which has over 20 years of experience coordinating local patrols and registering migratory crossings.

This network is run by Froglife UK.

North Somerset Council have paid for ten warning signs which will be installed in various locations throughout Winscombe in the hopes that drivers will avoid routes known to be frequently used during the toads' migration.

Councillor Mike Solomon, North Somerset Council's executive member responsible for open spaces and the natural environment, said: "I’m pleased to see that officers have been able to offer a solution with these new signs, while helping this local community group to check things like paperwork and insurance, in order to help them to carry out its important and worthwhile work.”

Colin Burbidge, treasurer of Winscombe Hill Toad Patrol, said: “We’d like to thank officers in North Somerset Council’s Highways and Natural Environment teams for their help and support with this initiative.

"Thanks to the unusually cold weather, we suspect that we still have a lot of toads to move this late in their normal season.

"We look forward to getting the signs in place and hope that they will make a positive difference in the work that we do.”

You can learn more about toads in the new 'Wild Isles' series by Sir David Attenborough. The series was first aired on March 12.

You can see Winscombe's migrating and mating toads on Episode 4 of the programme, which will be aired on Sunday, April 2, at 7pm on BBC One and BBC IPlayer.

For updates on North Somerset Council’s nature and climate work, follow Nature and Climate North Somerset on Facebook.

More information about WTP and how you can take part can be found on Facebook (@winscombetoadpatrol) and on the Reptile and Amphibian Group for Somerset website.