🔗 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 committed people sacrifice their evenings to safeguard the local toad population.

An Alarming Decline in Population

The common toad is growing more rare. A latest research conducted by an wildlife conservation group revealed that the UK toad population have dropped by half since 1985. Seeing a species that has been a fixture of the British countryside in decrease is described as "worrying" by researchers. Toads "don't require very particular environments" and "ought to live quite well 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."

The UK toad population has almost halved since 1985

The Threat from Traffic

Though the study didn't examine the causes for the drop, cars is a major factor. Estimates suggest that 20 tonnes of toads are crushed on British roads every year – that is, several hundred thousand. Unlike frogs, which would probably be content to mate "with just a bucket of water," toads prefer large ponds. Their ability to stay out of water for more time than frogs allows they can travel further to find them – often hundreds of metres. They usually follow their traditional paths – it's common for adult toads to return to their natal pond to mate.

Migration Habits

Fittingly, the first toads begin their quest for a partner around Valentine's day, but others travel as far as spring, until it gets night and moving through the night. During that time, toads begin migrating from wherever they have been hibernating "all pretty much at the same time."

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

Toad Patrols Across the UK

Finding hundreds of dead toads on local roads "resonates deeply with people," and has led to the creation of toad patrols throughout the UK – hundreds of organizations are officially listed with a countrywide program. These teams pick up toads and transport them over streets in buckets, as well as recording the number of toads they find and advocating for other safety solutions, such as road closures and underground wildlife tunnels.

Patrols usually work during the migration season, when toad crossings are more regular. However, this means they can overlook numbers of toadlets, which, having been spawn and then tadpoles, exit their water habitats 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 hit "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 Efforts

Unlike many groups, one local team, who are in their eighth season of operating, go out throughout the year – not every night, but when conditions are warm and wet, or if a member has reported about a toad sighting in their group chat. When I request to accompany them on patrol, they admit it is "not ideal conditions" – winter dormancy has started and it's been a dry day – but a few of the helpers willingly accept to walk up and down their area with me and search for any toads. "If anyone can find any toads tonight, those two will find one," says the group coordinator, indicating her 14-year-old son and the experienced member. We've been out for 120 minutes without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have climbed over a barbed wire fence to inspect beneath some wood.

Family Participation

The family duo joined the group a year and a half ago. The youngster loves all things wildlife and has an goal to become a conservationist, so his mother started to search for things they could do jointly to protect local wildlife. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the middle-aged entrepreneur tells me – so when the team was looking for a fresh coordinator recently, she decided to step up.

The teenager, too, has played an important role in the organization. A video he created, urging the local council to close a road through a nature reserve during breeding time, influenced the outcome the group's way. After a twelve months of lobbying, the council agreed to an "restricted access" rule 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 by when I'm out on duty and we discover some victims as a consequence – no toads, but three squashed newts. We see one living newt as well, and the youngster is especially excited to see a daddy longlegs, which moves in his hands. Yet despite the group's hardest attempts to let me see a toad, the native community has obviously gone dormant for the winter. It seems that I wouldn't have had any more luck elsewhere in the nation – all the rescue teams I reach out to explain that it's near-impossible at this time of year.

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

A message I get from a different helper, who has generously made the effort to look for toads in a noted location, thought to be the biggest tracked toad group in the UK, reaches me with the title: "None found." However, in February and March, he tells me, the team expects to help approximately 10,000 mature amphibians across the road.

Effectiveness and Challenges

How much of a difference can these groups actually make? "The reality that volunteers are doing this consistently on chilly, wet and miserable late nights is remarkable," says an expert. "That's something that very much deserves recognition." However, while toad patrols are able to reduce the drop, they can't stop it completely – not least because vehicles is just one danger.

Additional Threats

The climate crisis has resulted in extended spells of dry weather, which create the wrong conditions for some of the creatures that toads consume, such as worms and slugs, while warmer ponds have caused an increase of toxic plants, which can be toxic to toads. Warmer cold seasons also cause toads to emerge from their hibernation more frequently, disrupting the resource preservation crucial to their existence. Loss of environment – particularly the loss of big water bodies – is an additional threat.

Researchers are "often concerned about overemphasizing practical benefits on wildlife," but "It's important in just their presence." But toads do have an significant part in the ecosystem, eating almost any small creatures or tiny organisms they can fit in their mouths and in turn sustaining a variety of predators, such as hedgehogs and otters. Improving conditions for toads – ie creating more ponds, conserving woodland and constructing toad tunnels – "we'll improve them for a whole bunch of other species."

Historical Importance

An additional motive to try to keep toads around is their "important cultural value," adds an specialist. Myths and folklore around toads date back {centuries|hundred