🔗 Share this article

It is a Friday evening at 7:30, but instead of heading to the pub or relaxing at home, I've taken a train to a market town in the countryside to join local helpers from a amphibian rescue group. These committed people sacrifice their evenings to protect the native amphibian community.

An Alarming Decline in Population

The Bufo bufo is growing more rare. A latest research conducted by an amphibian and reptile charity revealed that the British common toad numbers have dropped by half since the mid-1980s. Observing a creature that has been a fixture of the UK landscape in decline is described as "concerning" by researchers. Toads "don't need very particular environments" and "ought to live successfully in most of areas in the UK," so if even they are not managing to survive, "it indicates that things are not as they should be."

Toad populations across the UK have declined by almost 50% since the 1980s

The Danger from Traffic

Though the study didn't cover the causes for the decline, traffic is a major factor. Estimates suggest that 20 tons of toads are crushed on British roads annually – that is, several hundred thousand. Unlike frogs, which might be content to mate "with just a small container," toads favor large ponds. Their ability to remain away from water for longer than frogs means they can travel further to reach them – sometimes long distances. They tend to stick to their ancestral migration routes – it's common for adult toads to return to their natal pond to mate.

Breeding Habits

Fittingly, the first toads begin their quest for a mate around February 14th, but some move as far as April, until it gets night and moving after sunset. During that time, toads begin migrating from wherever they have been overwintering "all pretty much at the same time."

A local helper, who was raised in the area and has been trying to protect its toad population since he was a boy, explains that "Their sole purpose: to go and have an orgy." If their path crosses a street, they could all get run over, and that breeding season would be lost – stopping a new generation of toads from being produced.

Toad Patrols Throughout the United Kingdom

Finding many of toad carcasses on local roads "resonates deeply with people," and has resulted in the creation of toad patrols across the UK – 274 groups are currently registered with a countrywide program. These groups collect toads and carry them over streets in buckets, as well as recording the quantity of toads they find and lobbying for other safety solutions, such as road closures and underground wildlife tunnels.

Volunteers tend to operate during the migration season, when toad crossings are more regular. However, this implies they can overlook numbers of young toads, which, having been eggs and then juveniles, leave their ponds over an irregular timetable in late summer. Because of their small stature – just one or two centimetres wide – "they are destroyed by car traffic." And as being run over "basically turns them into mush," it's more difficult to collect information on them. At least when adult toads are lost, their remains can be counted.

Year-Round Work

Unlike many groups, one local team, who are in their eighth season of operating, go out year-round – not every night, but when conditions are damp, or if someone has reported about a toad sighting in their messaging app. When I ask to join them on patrol, they concede it is "not a toady night" – toad hibernation season has begun and it's been a arid period – but several of the volunteers willingly accept to walk up and down their area with me and search for any toads. "Should anyone can locate any toads tonight, that pair will find one," says the group coordinator, pointing to her teenage child and the experienced member. We've been out for two hours without a single toad sighting, and now they have scaled a barbed wire fence to check under some logs.

Community Involvement

The family duo became part of the patrol a year and a half ago. The teenager adores all things nature-related and has an goal to become a conservationist, so his mother started to look for activities they could do together to help native animals. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the middle-aged small business owner explains – so when the group was looking for a new manager recently, she decided to step up.

The teenager, too, has played an important role in the group. A video he created, imploring the local council to block a street through a protected area during breeding time, swung the decision the group's way. After a year of lobbying, the authority approved an "access-only" restriction between 5pm and 5am from February through to spring. Most drivers respected and avoided the road.

Additional Species and Difficulties

A few cars go past when I'm out on duty and we discover some casualties as a consequence – no toads, but three squashed newts. We spot one live amphibian as well, and the teenager is especially excited to see a harvestman, which moves in his palms. Yet in spite of the team's best efforts to show me a toad, the local population has clearly gone dormant for the colder months. It appears that I couldn't have found any more luck elsewhere in the country – all the rescue teams I contact clarify that it's very difficult at this time of year.

They project rescuing nearly 10,000 grown amphibians during migration

A message I receive from a different helper, who has kindly made the effort to check for toads in a noted location, considered the largest accurately monitored toad population in the UK, reaches me with the title: "None found." However, in February and March, he informs me, the group plans to assist around ten thousand mature amphibians across the road.

Effectiveness and Challenges

What level of impact can these groups actually make? "The fact that people are doing this consistently on cold, damp and unpleasant evenings is quite extraordinary," notes an researcher. "That's something that very much should be celebrated." However, while toad patrols are able to reduce the drop, they cannot prevent it entirely – partly since vehicles is not the only threat.

Other Dangers

The climate crisis has resulted in extended spells of drought, which cause the wrong conditions for some of the animals that toads eat, such as worms and slugs, while warmer ponds have caused an increase of blue-green algae, which can be toxic to toads. Warmer cold seasons also lead toads to wake up from their hibernation more frequently, disrupting the resource preservation crucial to their life cycle. Loss of environment – particularly the loss of big water bodies – is an additional threat.

Researchers are "often concerned about overemphasizing practical benefits on wildlife," however "There is a big value in just their presence." But toads play an important role in the ecosystem, consuming almost any invertebrates or tiny organisms they can fit in their mouths and in turn feeding a number of birds and mammals, such as wildlife. Enhancing situations for toads – such as building water habitats, conserving woodland and constructing toad tunnels – "we'll improve them for a wide range of other species."

Historical Importance

Another reason to work to preserve toads around is their "historical significance," adds an specialist. Legends and tales around toads go back {centuries|hundred