🔗 Share this article

It's a Friday evening at half past seven, but rather than heading to the pub or watching a film, I've taken a train to a town in Wiltshire to meet up with local helpers from a toad patrol. These dedicated individuals sacrifice their evenings to safeguard the native amphibian community.

An Alarming Drop in Population

The Bufo bufo is becoming increasingly uncommon. A recent research conducted by an wildlife conservation group revealed that the British common toad numbers have dropped by half since the mid-1980s. Observing a species that has been a fixture of the UK landscape in decrease is labeled "worrying" by researchers. Toads "don't need very specific conditions" and "should be able to live quite well in the majority of habitats in Britain," so if even they are struggling to persist, "it kind of suggests that things are not as they should be."

The UK toad population has almost halved since 1985

The Threat from Roads

Though the research didn't cover the causes for the drop, traffic certainly plays a part. Calculations indicate that 20 tons of toads are killed on British roads annually – that is, several hundred thousand. In contrast to frogs, which might be happy to mate "with just a small container," toads prefer big bodies of water. Their ability to remain away from water for longer than frogs allows they can journey farther to reach them – sometimes long distances. They usually stick to their traditional paths – it's typical for mature amphibians to return to their natal pond to mate.

Breeding Habits

Appropriately enough, the first toads start their journey for a mate around February 14th, but others travel as far as April, waiting until it gets dark and moving through the night. During that time, toads start moving from where they have been hibernating "all pretty much at the same time."

One volunteer, who grew up in the area and has been trying to protect its amphibians since he was a child, explains that "They've got just one focus: to go and have an orgy." If their route crosses a street, they could be killed by traffic, and that breeding season would be lost – stopping a next generation of toads from being born.

Toad Patrols Throughout the UK

Finding hundreds of dead toads on nearby streets "resonates deeply with people," and has resulted in the formation of rescue teams across the UK – 274 groups are officially listed with a countrywide program. These groups collect toads and carry them across roads in buckets, as well as counting the number of toads they find and lobbying for other safety solutions, such as blocked roads and amphibian passages.

Patrols usually work during the breeding period, when toad crossings are more regular. However, this means they can overlook groups of toadlets, which, having been spawn and then juveniles, exit their ponds over an irregular timetable in the end of summer. Because of their size – just a couple of cm wide – "they are destroyed by car traffic." And as being hit "basically turns them into mush," it's more difficult to get data on them. At least when adult toads are lost, their remains can be counted.

Annual Work

In contrast to most patrols, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth season of operating, go out year-round – not every night, but whenever weather are warm and wet, or if someone has reported about a amphibian spotting in their group chat. When I request to accompany them on duty, they admit it is "not a toady night" – winter dormancy has started and it's been a dry day – but a few of the volunteers willingly accept to patrol their route with me and search for any toads. "If anyone can find any toads tonight, that pair will spot one," says the patrol manager, indicating her teenage child and the longtime volunteer. After for 120 minutes without a single toad sighting, and now they have climbed over a wire barrier to inspect beneath some wood.

Family Participation

The family duo joined the group a while back. The youngster adores all things nature-related and has an goal to become a conservationist, so his mother started to search for activities they could do together to protect native animals. Now she loves it as much as he does, the 41-year-old small business owner tells me – so when the group was seeking a fresh coordinator lately, she decided to step up.

The teenager, too, has played an important role in the group. A clip he made, urging the municipal authority to close a road through a protected area during migration season, swung the decision the team's way. After a twelve months of lobbying, the council approved an "access-only" restriction between evening and morning from February through to April. Most drivers respected and avoided the route.

Additional Species and Difficulties

Several vehicles go past when I'm out on duty and we find some victims as a consequence – no amphibians, but three squashed newts. We see one live amphibian as well, and the teenager is particularly pleased to see a daddy longlegs, which moves in his palms. Yet in spite of the group's hardest attempts to let me see a toad, the local population has obviously gone dormant for the colder months. It seems that I wouldn't have had any more luck anywhere else in the country – all the patrol groups I reach out to explain that it's very difficult at this season.

They project rescuing nearly 10,000 grown amphibians during migration

A message I get from a different helper, who has generously taken the trouble to look for toads in a famous site, considered the biggest tracked toad population in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the subject line: "None found." However, in February and March, he informs me, the group plans to assist approximately 10,000 adult toads over the street.

Effectiveness and Challenges

How much of a difference can these organizations truly achieve? "The reality that people are performing this consistently on cold, damp and unpleasant evenings is quite extraordinary," notes an researcher. "This effort that very much should be celebrated." However, while rescue teams are able to slow the decline, they cannot prevent it entirely – not least because vehicles is not the only threat.

Additional Threats

The global warming has resulted in longer periods of dry weather, which cause the wrong conditions for some of the creatures that toads eat, such as invertebrates, while higher water temperatures have caused an rise of blue-green algae, which can be harmful to toads. Milder winters also lead toads to wake up from their dormancy more frequently, interfering with the resource preservation vital to their life cycle. Habitat destruction – particularly the disappearance of large ponds – is an additional threat.

Experts are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on biodiversity," however "It's important in just their presence." But toads play an important role in the food chain, eating pretty much any invertebrates or tiny organisms they can swallow and in turn sustaining a number of predators, such as hedgehogs and otters. Improving situations for toads – such as creating more ponds, conserving woodland and constructing toad tunnels – "we'll improve them for a whole bunch of additional wildlife."

Cultural Significance

Another reason to try to keep toads present is their "important cultural value," adds an expert. Legends and tales around toads go back {centuries|hundred