🔗 Share this article

It's Friday evening 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 meet up with local helpers from a amphibian rescue group. These dedicated individuals give up their nights to protect the native amphibian community.

An Alarming Drop in Numbers

The common toad is becoming increasingly 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 creature that has been a fixture of the British countryside in decline is described as "concerning" by experts. Toads "don't need very particular environments" and "should be able to live successfully in the majority of habitats in the UK," so if even they are not managing to survive, "it kind of suggests that the ecosystem is unbalanced."

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

The Threat from Traffic

Though the research didn't examine the reasons for the decline, traffic certainly plays a part. Estimates indicate that 20 tons of toads are killed on British roads annually – in other words, several hundred thousand. In contrast to frogs, which would probably be happy to mate "if you left out a small container," toads favor big bodies of water. Their ability to stay out of water for more time than frogs allows they can travel further to reach them – sometimes long distances. They tend to stick to their traditional paths – it's typical for adult toads to return to their natal pond to mate.

Migration Patterns

Fittingly, the first toads begin their quest for a partner around Valentine's day, but others travel as late as spring, waiting until it gets night and moving 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 grew up in the area and has been working to save its toad population since he was a child, notes that "They've got just one focus: to go and mate." If their route happens to a road, they could all get run over, and that breeding season would never happen – stopping a next generation of toads from being born.

Toad Patrols Throughout the United Kingdom

Seeing many of toad carcasses on local roads "resonates deeply with people," and has led to the creation of toad patrols throughout the UK – 274 groups are currently registered with a countrywide program. These groups collect toads and transport them across roads in buckets, as well as recording the quantity of toads they encounter and advocating for other protection measures, such as blocked roads and underground wildlife tunnels.

Patrols usually work during the migration season, when toad crossings are frequent. However, this implies they can overlook numbers of young toads, which, having existed as eggs and then juveniles, exit their water habitats over an unpredictable schedule in late summer. Because of their size – just a couple of cm wide – "they are destroyed by car traffic." And as being hit "essentially crushes them," it's more difficult to get data on them. At least when adult toads are killed, their carcasses can be tallied.

Annual Work

Unlike most patrols, one local team, who are in their eighth year of functioning, go out year-round – not nightly, but when conditions are warm and wet, or if a member has posted about a toad sighting in their group chat. When I ask to join them on patrol, they admit it is "not ideal conditions" – toad hibernation season has begun and it's been a arid period – but several of the volunteers gamely agree to walk up and down their route with me and see what we can find. "If anyone can locate any toads tonight, that pair will spot one," says the group coordinator, indicating her teenage child and the experienced member. After for 120 minutes without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have climbed over a barbed wire fence to check under some logs.

Community Participation

The mother and son became part of the group a year and a half ago. The teenager adores all things wildlife and has an ambition to become a conservationist, so his mother started to look for activities they could do together 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 seeking a fresh coordinator recently, she volunteered for the role.

The teenager, too, has been instrumental in the group. A video he made, imploring the municipal authority to close a road through a nature reserve during breeding time, influenced the outcome the team's way. After a year of lobbying, the authority approved an "access-only" rule between evening and morning from late winter through to spring. The majority of motorists respected and avoided the road.

Other Wildlife and Challenges

A few vehicles go past when I'm out on duty and we discover some victims as a result – no toads, but three squashed newts. We see one live amphibian as well, and the youngster is particularly pleased to see a harvestman, which dances in his palms. Yet in spite of the group's hardest attempts to show me a toad, the native community has clearly gone dormant for the colder months. It appears that I couldn't have found any better success anywhere else in the country – all the rescue teams I reach out to explain that it's very difficult at this time of year.

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

A message I receive from a different helper, who has generously made the effort to look for toads in a famous site, thought to be the largest accurately monitored toad population in the UK, reaches me with the subject line: "None found." However, in late winter, he informs me, the team plans to assist around ten thousand adult toads over the street.

Effectiveness and Limitations

How much of a difference can these groups actually make? "The reality that volunteers are performing this consistently on chilly, wet and miserable evenings is quite extraordinary," says an expert. "That's something that very much should be celebrated." However, while toad patrols are able to slow the decline, they cannot prevent it entirely – partly since vehicles is just one danger.

Other Dangers

The global warming 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 rise of toxic plants, which can be toxic to toads. Warmer cold seasons also lead toads to emerge from their dormancy more often, interfering with the resource preservation vital to their life cycle. Loss of environment – especially the loss of big water bodies – is another menace.

Experts are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on wildlife," however "It's important in just their presence." But toads play an significant part in the food chain, eating almost any small creatures or tiny organisms they can fit in their mouths and in turn sustaining a number of birds and mammals, such as hedgehogs and otters. Enhancing situations for toads – ie building water habitats, conserving woodland and installing toad tunnels – "we'll improve them for a whole bunch of other species."

Historical Significance

An additional motive to try to keep toads around is their "historical significance," adds an specialist. Legends and tales around toads date back {centuries|hundred