🔗 Share this article

It is a Friday night at half past seven, but instead of going out or watching a film, I've taken a train to a market town in Wiltshire to join local helpers from a toad patrol. These dedicated individuals give up their evenings to safeguard the local toad population.

A Worrying Decline in Population

The common toad is becoming increasingly rare. A latest study conducted by an amphibian and reptile charity showed that the British common toad numbers have almost halved since the mid-1980s. Seeing a creature that has been a fixture of the UK landscape in decline is described as "worrying" by experts. Toads "don't need very particular environments" and "ought to live successfully in the majority of habitats in Britain," meaning 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 Threat from Roads

Though the study didn't examine the causes for the drop, traffic certainly plays a part. Calculations suggest that 20 tonnes of toads are killed on UK roads every year – that is, hundreds of thousands. Unlike frogs, which might be happy to mate "with just a small container," toads favor big bodies of water. Their ability to remain away from water for more time than frogs means they can travel further to find them – often long distances. They tend to stick to their ancestral migration routes – it's typical for adult toads to return to their birth pond to mate.

Migration Habits

Fittingly, the initial amphibians begin their quest for a mate around February 14th, but some move as far as spring, waiting until it gets night and moving through the night. During that period, toads begin migrating 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 toad population since he was a child, notes that "Their sole purpose: to go and have an orgy." If their route crosses a street, they could be killed by traffic, and that mating period would be lost – preventing a new generation of toads from being produced.

Rescue Groups Throughout the UK

Seeing hundreds of dead toads on local roads "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has resulted in the formation of rescue teams throughout the UK – 274 groups are officially listed with a national initiative. These teams pick up toads and transport them across roads in buckets, as well as recording the quantity of toads they encounter and advocating for other safety solutions, such as blocked roads and underground wildlife tunnels.

Patrols usually work during the breeding period, when toad crossings are frequent. However, this means they can miss numbers of toadlets, which, having been spawn and then juveniles, leave their ponds over an unpredictable schedule in late summer. Because of their size – just one or two centimetres wide – "they are destroyed by vehicles." And as being hit "essentially crushes them," it's more difficult to get data on them. At least when mature amphibians are lost, their remains can be counted.

Annual Efforts

Unlike many groups, one local team, who are in their eighth season of functioning, go out throughout the year – not nightly, but when conditions are damp, or if a member has reported about a toad sighting in their group chat. When I ask to join them on duty, they concede 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 locate any toads tonight, those two will find one," says the group coordinator, pointing to her 14-year-old son and the experienced member. After for 120 minutes without a single toad sighting, and now they have scaled a barbed wire fence to inspect beneath some wood.

Family Involvement

The mother and son joined the patrol a year and a half ago. The teenager adores all things wildlife and has an goal to become a conservationist, so his parent started to search for things they could do jointly 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 been instrumental in the group. A clip he made, imploring the local council to close a street through a nature reserve during migration season, influenced the outcome the team's way. After a twelve months of campaigning, the authority agreed to an "access-only" restriction between 5pm and 5am from late winter through to spring. The majority of motorists respected and avoided the road.

Other Wildlife and Difficulties

Several cars go past when I'm out on duty and we find some casualties as a result – no amphibians, but three squashed newts. We see one live amphibian as well, and the teenager is particularly pleased to see a harvestman, which dances in his hands. Yet despite the team's best efforts to show me a toad, the local population has obviously settled down for the colder months. It seems that I wouldn't have had any better success anywhere else in the nation – all the patrol groups I contact explain that it's near-impossible at this season.

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

One email I receive from a different helper, who has generously taken the trouble to check for toads in a famous site, thought to be the largest accurately monitored toad population in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the title: "None found." However, in February and March, he tells me, the group expects to help approximately 10,000 mature amphibians across the road.

Impact and Limitations

How much of a difference can these groups actually make? "The fact that people are doing this consistently on cold, damp and unpleasant late nights is quite extraordinary," says an researcher. "This effort that very much deserves recognition." However, while toad patrols are able to slow the decline, they can't stop it completely – partly since vehicles is just one danger.

Additional Threats

The global warming has meant longer periods of dry weather, which cause the wrong conditions for some of the creatures that toads consume, such as worms and slugs, while higher water temperatures have caused an increase of blue-green algae, which can be harmful to toads. Milder winters also cause toads to emerge from their dormancy more often, disrupting the energy conservation vital to their life cycle. Habitat destruction – especially the disappearance of large ponds – is an additional threat.

Experts 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 significant part in the food chain, consuming pretty much any small creatures or small animals they can swallow and in turn sustaining a number of birds and mammals, such as wildlife. Improving situations for toads – ie creating more ponds, conserving woodland and constructing amphibian passages – "benefits for a whole bunch of other species."

Historical Significance

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