You’ve stood the bill for an expensive meal at the best restaurant in town, shared a bottle or two of Cabernet Sauvignon, indulged in suggestive conversation across the candlelit table. Now you’re ready for a night of unrestrained passion. You make your move under a moonlit sky. She/he responds to your touch…

Then you get mowed down by a number 73 bus. Coitus well and truly interruptus. And not the ideal way to end the evening. Well, that’s what has been happening to frustrated toads in mid-Wales. They’ve been killed in their hundreds on a quite lakeside road just as they were ready to fulfill their courtship ritual. It’s a tragic tale.

But we in Britain respect our amorous amphibian’s right for a bit of slap and tickle. So, the local council have closed the road where the toads are being cruelly cut down at the moment of passion. Good on Powys County Council we say! Oh, and if you’re out walking in the area, watch where you step!