'Toadal wipeout' as parkrun disruption continues

A parkrun has been cancelled for the fourth week in a row as migrating toads continue making their way across the track.

Kirkharle Courtyard parkrun in Northumberland started last October, with organisers saying they had expected to see the toads because they migrate every year - but usually only take about a week to cross the area.

Event co-director Nick Winslow believed the recent heat was slowing the toads down, and attempts to route around them had been foiled when they invaded those paths as well.

However, he said the number of toads they were seeing was declining and hoped what he called the "toadal wipeout" would be over by next weekend, with the event back up and running.

"We said we were out of the woods because we had a new route through the woods, but then the toads came into the woods with us," he said.

But he said, in absence of the run, he had been researching the toads - previously misidentified as frogs.

He said he had become something of an amphibian enthusiast - even delving into the history of their supposed witchcraft properties.

He has been snapping his favourites for a "Toad of the Day" feature on the group's Facebook page, where he has also been sharing poetry he has written about them.

"It's impossible to hate anything about toads, they do nothing but good," he said.

"I think they're endlessly fascinating, and it's always wonderful to be reminded that you share nature with all sorts of other things - we are part of wild country.

"Maybe it's a bit like a thunderstorm, we hate being inconvenienced by the weather, but once in a while you see something absolutely amazing and you don't care."

However, he said runners "really miss" the parkrun and were looking forward to its return.

Looking ahead to next year, he said organisers were working to find a route which could successfully dodge migrating toads to avoid disruption again.

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