🔗 Share this article

It is Friday night at 7:30, but rather than heading to the pub or watching a film, I've caught a train to a town in the countryside to meet up with local helpers from a toad patrol. These committed people give up their nights to protect the local toad population.

An Alarming Decline in Population

The Bufo bufo is growing more rare. A latest research led by an wildlife conservation group revealed that the British common toad numbers have almost halved since 1985. Observing a species that has been a fixture of the UK landscape in decrease is described as "worrying" by experts. Toads "don't require very particular environments" and "ought to live quite well in the majority of areas in Britain," so if even they are struggling to persist, "it kind of suggests that the ecosystem is unbalanced."

The UK toad population has almost halved since 1985

The Threat from Roads

Though the research didn't examine the reasons for the drop, traffic certainly plays a part. Estimates suggest that 20 tons of toads are crushed on UK roads annually – in other words, several hundred thousand. In contrast to frogs, which might be happy to mate "if you left out a small container," toads favor big bodies of water. Their capacity to remain away from water for more time than frogs means they can travel further to find them – sometimes long distances. They usually follow their traditional paths – it's typical for adult toads to go back to their birth pond to mate.

Migration Habits

Appropriately enough, the first toads begin their quest for a mate around February 14th, but some move as far as April, waiting until it gets night and travelling after sunset. During that time, toads start moving from where they have been hibernating "almost simultaneously."

A local helper, who was raised in the area and has been trying to protect its amphibians since he was a child, notes that "They've got just one focus: to go and mate." If their route happens to a road, they could be killed by traffic, and that breeding season would be lost – preventing a next generation of toads from being produced.

Rescue Groups Throughout the United Kingdom

Finding many of dead toads on nearby streets "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has resulted in the formation of toad patrols throughout the UK – 274 groups are currently registered with a countrywide program. These teams pick up toads and carry them over streets in containers, as well as recording the quantity of toads they find and lobbying for other protection measures, such as blocked roads and underground wildlife tunnels.

Volunteers usually work during the breeding period, when amphibian movements are frequent. However, this means they can miss numbers of young toads, which, having been spawn and then tadpoles, exit their water habitats over an unpredictable schedule in late summer. Because of their size – just a couple of cm wide – "they are destroyed by car traffic." And as being run over "essentially crushes them," it's more difficult to collect information on them. At least when adult toads are lost, their carcasses can be tallied.

Annual Work

Unlike most patrols, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth season of operating, go out throughout the year – not nightly, but whenever weather are damp, or if someone has posted about a amphibian spotting in their group chat. When I ask to join them on patrol, they concede it is "not ideal conditions" – winter dormancy has started and it's been a arid period – but a few of the volunteers willingly accept to walk up and down their route with me and search for any toads. "If anyone can locate any toads tonight, that pair will spot one," says the group coordinator, indicating her 14-year-old son 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.

Community Involvement

The mother and son joined the group a year and a half ago. 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 help local wildlife. Now she loves it as much as he does, the 41-year-old small business owner tells me – so when the group was looking for a fresh coordinator lately, she volunteered for the role.

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

Additional Species and Challenges

A few cars go by when I'm out on duty and we find some casualties as a consequence – no amphibians, but several crushed salamanders. We spot one living newt as well, and the youngster is particularly pleased to see a harvestman, which dances in his hands. Yet despite the team's hardest attempts to let me see a toad, the native community has clearly gone dormant for the colder months. It seems that I couldn't have found any more luck anywhere else in the nation – all the patrol groups I reach out to clarify that it's near-impossible at this season.

This team anticipates assisting around ten thousand mature toads over the street

One email I get from another volunteer, who has generously made the effort to look for toads in a famous site, considered the biggest tracked toad group in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the subject line: "No toads." However, in late winter, he tells me, the team plans to assist approximately 10,000 mature amphibians across the road.

Impact and Challenges

What level of impact can these groups truly achieve? "The reality that people are doing this regularly on cold, damp and unpleasant late nights is quite extraordinary," notes an expert. "That's something that very much deserves recognition." However, while rescue teams are able to reduce the drop, they cannot prevent it entirely – not least because traffic is just one danger.

Additional Threats

The climate crisis has meant extended spells of dry weather, which cause the wrong conditions for some of the animals that toads consume, such as worms and slugs, while higher water temperatures have led to an increase of blue-green algae, which can be toxic to toads. Milder winters also cause toads to emerge from their hibernation more often, interfering with the resource preservation crucial to their life cycle. Habitat destruction – especially the loss of large ponds – is another menace.

Researchers are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on biodiversity," but "It's important in just their presence." But toads do have an important role in the food chain, consuming pretty much any small creatures or tiny organisms they can fit in their mouths and in turn feeding a number of birds and mammals, such as wildlife. Improving situations for toads – ie building water habitats, protecting forests and installing amphibian passages – "we'll improve them for a wide range of additional wildlife."

Cultural Significance

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