🔗 Share this article

It is a Friday evening at 7:30, but instead of going out or relaxing at home, I've taken a train to a market town in the countryside to meet up with volunteers from a amphibian rescue group. These dedicated individuals sacrifice their nights to protect the local toad population.

A Worrying Drop in Population

The common toad 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 1985. Seeing a species that has been a stalwart of the UK landscape in decrease is labeled "concerning" by experts. Toads "don't need very specific conditions" and "should be able to live successfully in most of areas in the UK," meaning if even they are struggling to persist, "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 reasons for the decline, traffic is a major factor. Estimates suggest that 20 tons of toads are killed on UK roads every year – that is, hundreds of thousands. In contrast to frogs, which might be happy to mate "if you left out a small container," toads favor large ponds. Their ability to remain away from water for more time than frogs means they can travel further to reach them – sometimes long distances. They usually follow their ancestral migration routes – it's typical for adult toads to return to their natal pond to mate.

Migration Habits

Appropriately enough, the first toads start their journey for a mate around Valentine's day, but some move as far as spring, waiting until it gets night and travelling through the night. During that time, toads begin migrating from wherever they have been overwintering "all pretty much at the same time."

One volunteer, who was raised in the region and has been working to save its toad population 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 new generation of toads from being born.

Rescue Groups Across the United Kingdom

Seeing many of toad carcasses on local roads "resonates deeply with people," and has resulted in the formation of toad patrols across the UK – 274 groups are currently registered with a national initiative. These groups pick up toads and carry them across roads in containers, as well as counting the quantity of toads they encounter and lobbying for other safety solutions, such as road closures and underground wildlife tunnels.

Patrols tend to operate during the migration season, when amphibian movements are more regular. However, this means they can miss numbers of young toads, which, having existed as spawn and then tadpoles, exit their water habitats over an unpredictable schedule in the end of summer. Because of their size – just a couple of cm wide – "they can get obliterated by car traffic." And as being hit "essentially crushes them," it's harder to collect information on them. At least when adult toads are lost, their remains can be tallied.

Year-Round Work

In contrast to many groups, one local team, who are in their eighth season of functioning, go out throughout the year – not nightly, but whenever conditions are warm and wet, or if a member has reported about a toad sighting in their group chat. When I ask to join them on duty, they admit it is "not ideal conditions" – toad hibernation season 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 see what we can find. "Should anyone can locate 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 two hours without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have scaled a barbed wire fence to inspect beneath some logs.

Family Participation

The family duo joined 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 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 team was looking for a new manager recently, she decided to step up.

The youth, too, has played an important role in the organization. A video he made, urging the municipal authority to block a street through a protected area during migration season, swung the decision the team's way. After a year of campaigning, the authority approved an "access-only" rule between 5pm and 5am from late winter through to spring. The majority of motorists respected and avoided the route.

Other Wildlife and Difficulties

A few cars go past when I'm out on patrol 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 dances in his hands. Yet despite the team's hardest attempts to let me see a toad, the local population has obviously gone dormant for the colder months. It appears that I wouldn't have had any more luck anywhere else in the nation – all the rescue teams I reach out to clarify that it's very difficult at this season.

They project rescuing nearly 10,000 grown amphibians during migration

One email I receive from a different helper, who has kindly taken the trouble to look for toads in a noted location, considered the biggest tracked toad group in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the title: "No toads." However, in February and March, he informs me, the team expects to help around 10,000 mature amphibians over the street.

Effectiveness and Challenges

How much of a difference can these groups actually make? "The fact that people are doing this regularly on chilly, wet and miserable evenings is quite extraordinary," says an researcher. "This effort that very much deserves recognition." However, while toad patrols are able to reduce the drop, they can't stop it completely – partly since traffic is not the only threat.

Other Dangers

The climate crisis has resulted in extended spells of drought, which create the wrong conditions for some of the animals that toads eat, such as invertebrates, while higher water temperatures have led to an increase of toxic plants, which can be harmful to toads. Warmer cold seasons also cause toads to wake up from their dormancy more frequently, interfering with the energy conservation vital to their life cycle. Loss of environment – particularly the loss of large ponds – is another menace.

Experts are "always a bit worried about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on biodiversity," but "There is a big value in just their presence." But toads do have an important role in the ecosystem, eating almost any small creatures or small animals they can fit in their mouths and in turn feeding a number of birds and mammals, such as hedgehogs and otters. Enhancing situations for toads – ie building water habitats, protecting forests and constructing amphibian passages – "we'll improve them for a wide range of additional wildlife."

Cultural Significance

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