🔗 Share this article

It is a Friday evening at 7:30, but instead of going out or watching a film, I've caught a train to a town in the countryside to join local helpers from a toad patrol. These committed people sacrifice their evenings to safeguard the local toad population.

An Alarming Drop in Population

The common toad is growing more uncommon. A recent study led by an wildlife conservation group showed that the UK toad population have dropped by half since the mid-1980s. Seeing a species that has been a fixture of the British countryside in decrease is described as "worrying" by experts. Toads "don't require very particular environments" and "should be able to live quite well in most of areas in the UK," meaning if even they are not managing to survive, "it indicates that the ecosystem is unbalanced."

Since 1985, Britain's toad numbers have nearly been cut in half

The Danger from Traffic

Though the research didn't cover the reasons for the decline, traffic certainly plays a part. Estimates suggest that 20 tons of toads are crushed on British roads every year – in other words, several hundred thousand. In contrast to frogs, which would probably be content to mate "if you left out a bucket of water," toads favor big bodies of water. Their ability to remain away from water for more time than frogs allows they can travel further to reach them – sometimes hundreds of metres. They usually stick to their ancestral migration routes – it's common for mature amphibians to return to their natal pond to mate.

Migration Habits

Appropriately enough, the first toads begin their quest for a mate around Valentine's day, but others travel as late as April, waiting until it gets night and travelling through the night. During that period, toads start moving 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 amphibians since he was a boy, explains that "They've got just one focus: to go and mate." If their route happens to a street, they could be killed by traffic, and that breeding season would never happen – stopping a next generation of toads from being produced.

Rescue Groups Throughout the UK

Finding many of dead toads 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 teams pick up 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 blocked roads and underground wildlife tunnels.

Volunteers tend to operate during the migration season, when amphibian movements are more regular. However, this means they can miss groups of toadlets, which, having existed as eggs and then juveniles, leave their ponds over an unpredictable schedule in the end of summer. Because of their small stature – just a couple of cm wide – "they can get obliterated by car traffic." And as being run over "basically turns them into mush," it's more difficult to get data on them. At least when mature amphibians are killed, their carcasses can be counted.

Year-Round Efforts

In contrast to many groups, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth year of functioning, go out throughout the year – not every night, but whenever weather are warm and wet, or if a member has reported about a amphibian spotting in their messaging app. When I request to accompany them on patrol, they admit it is "not ideal conditions" – toad hibernation season has started and it's been a arid period – but several of the volunteers gamely agree to patrol their route with me and search for any toads. "Should anyone can locate any toads tonight, those two will spot one," says the group coordinator, pointing to her 14-year-old son and the longtime volunteer. We've been out for 120 minutes without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have climbed over a wire barrier 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 search for things they could do together to help local wildlife. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the 41-year-old entrepreneur explains – so when the group was seeking a fresh coordinator lately, she decided to step up.

The youth, too, has played an important role in the organization. A clip he created, urging the local council to block a road through a protected area during migration season, swung the decision the team's way. After a twelve months of lobbying, the council agreed to an "restricted access" restriction between evening and morning from February through to spring. The majority of motorists respected and avoided the road.

Additional Species and Difficulties

A few cars go past when I'm out on duty and we find some casualties as a result – no amphibians, but three squashed newts. We spot one live amphibian as well, and the teenager is particularly pleased to see a harvestman, which moves in his hands. Yet in spite of the group's best efforts to show me a toad, the local population has obviously gone dormant for the winter. It appears that I wouldn't have had any better success anywhere else in the country – all the rescue teams I reach out to clarify that it's very difficult at this season.

The group expects to help approximately 10,000 adult toads across the road

A message I receive from a different helper, who has kindly made the effort to check for toads in a famous site, considered the largest accurately monitored toad population in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the subject line: "None found." However, in February and March, he tells me, the group expects to help approximately ten thousand adult toads across the road.

Impact and Challenges

How much of a difference can these groups truly achieve? "The fact that people are performing this consistently on chilly, wet and miserable late nights is quite extraordinary," notes an expert. "That's something that very much should be celebrated." However, while toad patrols are able to slow the decline, they can't stop it completely – not least because vehicles is not the only threat.

Other Dangers

The climate crisis has meant longer periods of drought, which cause the wrong conditions for some of the creatures that toads consume, such as invertebrates, while higher water temperatures have caused an increase of toxic plants, which can be toxic to toads. Milder winters also lead toads to wake up from their hibernation more frequently, disrupting the energy conservation vital to their existence. Habitat destruction – particularly the loss of big water bodies – is another menace.

Researchers are "often concerned about overemphasizing practical benefits on biodiversity," but "There is a big value in just having these animals around." But toads play an important role in the ecosystem, eating pretty much any invertebrates or tiny organisms they can swallow and in turn feeding a number of predators, such as wildlife. Improving conditions for toads – ie building water habitats, conserving woodland and constructing toad tunnels – "we'll improve them for a wide range of other species."

Historical Significance

Another reason to try to keep toads around is their "important cultural value," notes an specialist. Myths and folklore around toads date back {centuries|hundred