🔗 Share this article

It's a Friday evening at 7:30, but rather than going out or relaxing at home, I've taken a train to a town in Wiltshire to meet up with local helpers from a toad patrol. These dedicated individuals give up their nights to protect the local toad population.

An Alarming Drop in Population

The common toad is becoming increasingly uncommon. A latest study led by an wildlife conservation group revealed that the British common toad numbers have dropped by half since the mid-1980s. Seeing a species that has been a stalwart of the UK landscape in decline is described as "worrying" by experts. Toads "don't require very specific conditions" and "ought to live quite well in most of habitats in the UK," so if even they are struggling to persist, "it kind of suggests that the ecosystem is unbalanced."

Toad populations across the UK have declined by almost 50% since the 1980s

The Threat from Traffic

Though the research didn't cover the causes for the decline, cars is a major factor. Calculations suggest that 20 tonnes of toads are killed on British roads every year – in other words, hundreds of thousands. In contrast to frogs, which would probably be content to mate "if you left out a bucket of water," toads prefer big bodies of water. Their ability to remain away from water for more time than frogs means they can journey farther to reach them – sometimes long distances. They tend to follow their ancestral migration routes – it's typical for mature amphibians to return to their natal pond to mate.

Breeding Patterns

Fittingly, the initial amphibians begin their quest for a partner around Valentine's day, but others travel as late as April, waiting until it gets night and moving after sunset. During that time, toads start moving from wherever they have been overwintering "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, explains that "Their sole purpose: to go and have an orgy." If their path happens to a road, they could all get run over, and that mating period would never happen – stopping a next generation of toads from being born.

Rescue Groups Across the UK

Finding hundreds of toad carcasses on nearby streets "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has led to the creation of rescue teams throughout the UK – hundreds of organizations are currently registered with a countrywide program. These teams pick up toads and carry them over streets in containers, as well as counting the quantity of toads they find and advocating for other protection measures, such as road closures and underground wildlife tunnels.

Patrols usually work during the breeding period, when amphibian movements are more regular. However, this means they can miss groups of toadlets, which, having existed as spawn and then juveniles, leave their ponds over an unpredictable schedule in the end of summer. Because of their size – just a couple of cm wide – "they can get obliterated by vehicles." And as being run over "essentially crushes them," it's harder to get data on them. At least when adult toads are lost, their remains can be tallied.

Year-Round Work

In contrast to many groups, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth year of functioning, go out year-round – not nightly, but when conditions are damp, or if someone has reported about a amphibian spotting in their group chat. When I ask to join them on patrol, they concede it is "not a toady night" – toad hibernation season has started and it's been a dry day – but several of the volunteers gamely agree to walk up and down their area with me and see what we can find. "If anyone can locate any toads tonight, those two will find one," says the group coordinator, indicating her teenage child and the experienced member. After for 120 minutes without a single toad sighting, and now they have climbed over a wire barrier to check under some logs.

Family Participation

The family duo joined the patrol a while back. The teenager adores all things wildlife and has an ambition to become a conservationist, so his parent started to search for things they could do jointly to help native animals. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the 41-year-old small business owner explains – so when the team was looking for a new manager lately, she volunteered for the role.

The youth, too, has played an important role in the group. A clip he created, urging the municipal authority to close a road through a protected area during breeding time, swung the decision the group's way. After a year of campaigning, the council approved an "restricted access" rule between evening and morning from late winter through to April. Most drivers respected and avoided the route.

Other Wildlife and Challenges

Several vehicles go past when I'm out on patrol and we find some victims as a result – no toads, but several crushed salamanders. We see one live amphibian as well, and the teenager is especially excited to see a harvestman, which moves in his hands. Yet despite the group's hardest attempts to let me see a toad, the local population has obviously settled down for the colder months. It seems that I couldn't have found any better success 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

A message I get from a different helper, who has generously taken the trouble to look for toads in a famous site, considered the largest accurately monitored toad group in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the subject line: "None found." However, in late winter, he tells me, the team plans to assist around 10,000 mature amphibians over the street.

Impact and Limitations

How much of a difference can these groups actually make? "The reality that people are performing this regularly on chilly, wet and miserable evenings is quite extraordinary," notes an expert. "This effort that very much should be celebrated." However, while toad patrols are able to reduce the drop, they cannot prevent it entirely – partly since traffic is not the only threat.

Other Dangers

The global warming has resulted in extended spells of dry weather, which cause the poor environment for some of the creatures that toads consume, such as worms and slugs, while warmer ponds have caused an increase of blue-green algae, which can be harmful to toads. Milder winters also lead toads to wake up from their hibernation more often, interfering with the resource preservation vital to their existence. Loss of environment – particularly the disappearance of large ponds – is another menace.

Experts are "often concerned about overemphasizing practical benefits on wildlife," however "It's important in just having these animals around." But toads do have an significant part in the ecosystem, eating almost any invertebrates or small animals they can fit in their mouths and in turn feeding a variety of birds and mammals, such as hedgehogs and otters. Improving conditions for toads – such as creating more ponds, protecting forests and installing 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," notes an specialist. Legends and tales around toads date back {centuries|hundred