Horny Toads Invade George Clooneys 10m Oxfordshire Country Mansion 4/18/16

The chuckle of the day.

Whether it's true or not .....

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Lol I think George would see the humor in Randy toads .

Cindy too!

The story is so goofy

What a completely wonderful story. Makes me want to move to England. I believe we may have turtle patrols of sorts - in the countryside turtles are at serious risk, for obvious reasons, when crossing roads. A toad patrol and people working together to ensure that the toads safely migrate sounds so lovely.

And of course any toads on George's property would just have to be horny!

I wonder what other surprises this property holds for him. Floods, toads - what's next? A ghost?

Lol lizzy.

LizzyNY wrote:
I wonder what other surprises this property holds for him. Floods, toads - what's next? A ghost?

And her name is Baria!

Mel- I said "ghost" not witch!

Well, some ghosts can really rattle some chains!

Yeah! And so can some mothers-in-law!

We do the same with toads in spring: block roads so they are able to cross them without being run, and if this is not possuble, we have tunnels and also fences and collect the toads in the evening...

And if you live on an island there's always a chance of toads in spring...

Carolhathaway, that is so interesting. As goofy as I called this story it really is wonderful that wildlife is cared for in such a caring way in communities. Such as the turtle patrols that oldweston mentioned yesterday.

I wasn't aware that in spring the toad traffic could be such an issue. So they are trying to make their way to water from wherever they've been hibernating over the winter? Is that right?

Donna,
It's actually quite fascinating:
Toads overwinter in burrows in forests.
The female (do you call them female or nanny?) toads always return to the pond or pool where they hatched themselves. Which means that they have a sort of 'navigation system' which takes them there. So hundreds of them migrate at the same time, mostly at dawn. 

A friend told me that he was on his bike when a group of toats crossed the road he was on and it was very slippery because of the toats. The breaks didn't work properly so he had a bad accident.
So to close the roads at that time or to have fences and collect the toats saves the toats and people as well...

Carolhathaway, thanks! You are a wealth of information.

You're welcome!

March of the horny toads .   

It always amuses me that people are surprised when animals don't use the road crossings we so lovingly set up for them. How on earth would they know what those signs are for? (ie: deer crossing signs) Do we expect the deer to only cross where the signs are?

What the people in Sonning and in Carolhathaway's town are doing is really commendable. It's hands-on and practical and seems like it would have a great success rate.

Yes because animals are supposed to read signs and do what they say, humans.

LizzyNY wrote: It always amuses me that people are surprised when animals don't use the road crossings we so lovingly set up for them. How on earth would they know what those signs are for? (ie: deer crossing signs) Do we expect the deer to only cross where the signs are?

What the people in Sonning and in Carolhathaway's town are doing is really commendable. It's hands-on and practical and seems like it would have a great success rate.

Yes, we even build bridges when we build new roads because we think that deers and wild boars know that it's much safer for them to use the bridge instead of crossing the road...

carolhathaway wrote:
Yes, we even build bridges when we build new roads because we think that deers and wild boars know that it's much safer for them to use the bridge instead of crossing the road...

Does it work? Do the animals use the bridges?

LizzyNY wrote: It always amuses me that people are surprised when animals don't use the road crossings we so lovingly set up for them. How on earth would they know what those signs are for? (ie: deer crossing signs) Do we expect the deer to only cross where the signs are?

What the people in Sonning and in Carolhathaway's town are doing is really commendable. It's hands-on and practical and seems like it would have a great success rate.

A little off topic, but not totally!

Lizzy,
it often doesn't work. You have to add fences etc. so the animals really have no alternative because otherwise they will always go the direct route. In my area we have lots of deers and wild boars and also lynx (I live near mountains, and a national park is there as well.

Carolhathaway - I'm sorry. It was a joke (a very little joke, apparently). I know  the animals don't understand we're trying to keep them safe.  It sounds like you live in a beautiful area and that you're working hard to keep it that way.

Mel-     The American education system has a lot to answer for!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Clearly the deer (or that poor woman in the video) haven't gotten the memo ....

About the crossings, fences or bridges

Mel,
thanks for the video! It's so funny, I would think it's a prank if I were on the radio station...

Lizzy, sorry for not getting the joke! It was too early in the morning for me...

Carolhathaway - No problem. It wasn't a very good joke anyway.