THE once-familiar sound of natterjack toads will soon be heard again on the Blackmoor side of the A325 for the first time since the 1970s, thanks to a Hampshire County Council grant from Whitehill member Adam Carew.

New breeding pools will be created to allow Amphibian and Reptile Conservation to reintroduce Whitehill’s rare toads from a donor site in the Woolmer Forest Special Protection Area and Site of Special Scientific Interest on the Ministry of Defence ranges to the east of the A325.

Cllr Carew has also organised the replanting of native trees and shrubs along the A325 to replace the oaks and pines felled last year after being uprooted by the wind.

Tree species have been specially selected to suit the wet acid soil conditions.

They include oak, hazel, sallow, alder, alder buckthorn and rowan, providing visual cover, a pollution buffer and a benefit to wildlife.

Cllr Carew, who also serves on East Hampshire District Council and Whitehill Town Council, said: "I am absolutely thrilled to have planted the first replacement tree - an English oak - along the A325.

"This is private land managed by Amphibian and Reptile Conservation and is internationally-protected heathland mosaic.

"I am deeply grateful to Hampshire County Council for providing the native trees and their contractor Blakedown Landscapes to plant them so quickly.

"As the wet heathland is highly sensitive, the only way Natural England would allow us to replant the trees was to link it to conservation of our rare and endangered natterjack toad, so we have combined the new trees with plans for new breeding pools.

"Within a few years residents should be able to hear natterjack toads calling on both sides of the A325, something that has not been heard in Whitehill since I grew up here in the 1970s.

"I would like to say a special thank you to Hampshire County Council’s project manager Alan Harris, to Amphibian and Reptile Conservation regional manager Rob Free and to Blakedown contractor Paul Maginnis for working with me to make this a reality."

Mr Free said: "Amphibian and Reptile Conservation are very grateful to county councillor Adam Carew for grant-funding new natterjack breeding pools and organising replacement native trees along the A325 with Hampshire County Council.

"The importance of Whitehill’s natterjacks should not be underestimated. They are the only natural population left in the whole of the south of England, although we have now successfully reintroduced them elsewhere.

"We have worked with the Ministry of Defence since the early 1970s to protect the Woolmer Forest natterjack toads from the point of extinction.

"The planned reintroduction of natterjacks by Amphibian and Reptile Conservation to the Blackmoor side of the A325 will be an exciting and historic landmark for Whitehill’s wildlife."