Will the UK's Common Toads Be Saved from Traffic and Terrible Decline?

It's a Friday night at 7:30, but rather than going out or relaxing at home, I've taken a train to a town in Wiltshire to join volunteers from a toad patrol. These dedicated individuals give up their evenings to protect the native amphibian community.

A Worrying Decline in Population

The Bufo bufo is growing more uncommon. A recent research led by an amphibian and reptile charity showed that the UK toad population have dropped by half since the mid-1980s. Seeing a species that has been a fixture of the British countryside in decrease is described as "concerning" by researchers. Toads "don't require very particular environments" and "ought to live quite well in most of areas in Britain," meaning if even they are not managing to survive, "it kind of suggests that things are not as they should be."

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

The Danger from Roads

Though the study didn't examine the reasons for the decline, traffic certainly plays a part. Calculations indicate that 20 tons of toads are crushed on UK roads annually – that is, several hundred thousand. In contrast to frogs, which would probably be happy to mate "with just a bucket of water," toads favor large ponds. Their capacity to stay out of water for longer than frogs allows they can travel further to find them – often hundreds of metres. They usually stick to their ancestral migration routes – it's common for mature amphibians to return to their natal pond to mate.

Migration Habits

Fittingly, the first toads start their journey for a partner around February 14th, but others travel as late as spring, waiting until it gets dark and travelling after sunset. During that time, toads begin migrating from where they have been hibernating "almost simultaneously."

A local helper, who was raised in the region and has been trying to protect its amphibians since he was a boy, notes that "Their sole purpose: to go and mate." If their path happens to a road, they could all get run over, and that breeding season would be lost – stopping a next generation of toads from being born.

Toad Patrols Across the United Kingdom

Seeing hundreds of dead toads on nearby streets "resonates deeply with people," and has resulted in the formation of toad patrols throughout the UK – hundreds of organizations are currently registered with a countrywide program. These groups pick up toads and carry them across roads in buckets, as well as counting the number of toads they encounter and lobbying for other protection measures, such as road closures and underground wildlife tunnels.

Volunteers usually work during the migration season, when amphibian movements are frequent. However, this implies they can overlook groups of young toads, which, having existed as eggs and then tadpoles, exit their ponds over an unpredictable schedule in the end of summer. Because of their size – just a couple of cm wide – "they are destroyed by car traffic." And as being run over "essentially crushes them," it's harder to get data on them. At least when mature amphibians are killed, their remains can be counted.

Annual Work

Unlike most patrols, 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 posted about a amphibian spotting in their group chat. When I ask to join them on patrol, they concede it is "not ideal conditions" – toad hibernation season has started and it's been a dry day – but several of the helpers willingly accept to patrol their route with me and see what we can find. "Should anyone can find any toads tonight, that pair will find one," says the group coordinator, pointing to her teenage child 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 check under some wood.

Community Involvement

The family duo became part of the patrol a year and a half ago. The teenager loves all things nature-related and has an ambition to become a environmentalist, so his mother started to search for activities they could do jointly to help native animals. Now she loves it as much as he does, the 41-year-old small business owner explains – so when the group was seeking a new manager recently, she volunteered for the role.

The youth, too, has been instrumental in the group. A video he made, imploring the local council to block a street through a protected area during migration season, swung the decision the group's way. After a year of lobbying, the council agreed to an "access-only" rule between 5pm and 5am from late winter through to spring. Most drivers respected and avoided the route.

Other Wildlife and Challenges

Several cars go past when I'm out on duty and we find some victims as a result – no toads, but several crushed salamanders. We spot one live amphibian as well, and the youngster is especially excited to see a harvestman, which dances in his palms. Yet in spite of the team's best efforts to show me a toad, the native community has clearly settled down for the winter. It appears 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 season.

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 check for toads in a famous site, considered the biggest tracked toad group in the UK, reaches me with the title: "None found." However, in February and March, he tells me, the group plans to assist around ten thousand mature amphibians over the street.

Effectiveness and Challenges

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

Additional Threats

The climate crisis has resulted in longer periods of dry weather, which create the poor environment for some of the animals that toads eat, such as worms and slugs, while higher water temperatures have caused an increase of toxic plants, which can be toxic to toads. Milder winters also lead toads to wake up from their dormancy more frequently, disrupting the energy conservation crucial to their existence. Habitat destruction – especially the disappearance of big water bodies – is another menace.

Experts are "often concerned about overemphasizing practical benefits on biodiversity," however "It's important in just their presence." But toads do have an important role in the food chain, consuming pretty much any invertebrates or tiny organisms they can fit in their mouths and in turn sustaining a variety of predators, such as wildlife. Enhancing conditions for toads – such as creating more ponds, conserving woodland and constructing toad tunnels – "benefits for a wide range of other species."

Historical Importance

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