🔗 Share this article

It's a Friday night at half past seven, but rather than going out or watching a film, I've taken a train to a market town in the countryside to join local helpers from a toad patrol. These dedicated individuals sacrifice their evenings to protect the local toad population.

An Alarming Drop in Population

The common toad is growing more uncommon. A latest study 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 UK landscape in decrease is labeled "worrying" by experts. Toads "don't need very specific conditions" and "should be able to live quite well in the majority of areas in the UK," so 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 Traffic

Though the study didn't cover the causes for the decline, cars certainly plays a part. Estimates suggest 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 "if you left out a bucket of water," toads favor large ponds. Their capacity to remain away from water for longer than frogs allows they can travel further to reach them – often hundreds of metres. They tend to follow their traditional paths – it's typical for mature amphibians to go back to their natal pond to mate.

Breeding Habits

Appropriately enough, the first toads begin their quest for a mate around Valentine's day, but others travel as far as spring, until it gets night and travelling after sunset. During that time, toads begin migrating from wherever they have been overwintering "almost simultaneously."

One volunteer, who grew up in the region and has been trying to protect 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 road, they could all get run over, and that breeding season would never happen – preventing a next generation of toads from being produced.

Rescue Groups Across the United Kingdom

Seeing hundreds of toad carcasses on local roads "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has led to the creation of rescue teams across the UK – hundreds of organizations are officially listed with a national initiative. These groups collect toads and carry them over streets in containers, as well as recording the quantity of toads they encounter and advocating for other safety solutions, such as blocked roads and underground wildlife tunnels.

Patrols usually work during the breeding period, when toad crossings are more regular. However, this implies they can miss numbers of toadlets, which, having existed as spawn and then juveniles, leave their water habitats over an unpredictable schedule in late summer. Because of their small stature – 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 lost, their carcasses can be tallied.

Year-Round Efforts

In contrast to many groups, one local team, who are in their eighth year of operating, go out throughout the year – not nightly, but when conditions are damp, or if a member has reported about a toad sighting in their messaging app. When I ask to join them on patrol, they concede it is "not a toady night" – winter dormancy has started and it's been a arid period – but a few of the volunteers gamely agree to patrol their area with me and see what we can find. "If anyone can locate any toads tonight, those two will find one," says the patrol manager, indicating her 14-year-old son and the experienced member. After for two hours without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have scaled a wire barrier to check under some logs.

Family 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 goal to become a environmentalist, 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 middle-aged small business owner explains – so when the team was looking for a fresh coordinator lately, she volunteered for the role.

The youth, too, has played an important role in the group. A video he made, imploring the municipal authority to block a street through a nature reserve during migration season, swung the decision the team's way. After a year of lobbying, the authority agreed to an "restricted access" restriction between evening and morning from February through to spring. Most drivers duly avoided the route.

Other Wildlife and Challenges

A few cars go past when I'm out on duty and we find some casualties as a consequence – no toads, but three squashed newts. We spot one living newt as well, and the youngster is particularly pleased to see a daddy longlegs, which moves in his palms. Yet in spite of the group's hardest attempts to show me a toad, the native community has obviously settled down for the colder months. It appears that I wouldn't have had any better success elsewhere in the country – all the patrol groups I contact clarify that it's very difficult at this season.

This team anticipates assisting around ten thousand mature toads over the street

One email I receive from a different helper, who has generously made the effort to look for toads in a noted location, thought to be the largest accurately monitored toad population in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the subject line: "None found." However, in late winter, he tells me, the group expects to help approximately ten thousand mature amphibians across the road.

Effectiveness and Challenges

How much of a difference can these organizations actually make? "The fact that people are doing this consistently on chilly, wet and miserable late nights is quite extraordinary," says an expert. "That's something that very much should be celebrated." However, while rescue teams are able to reduce the drop, they can't stop it completely – not least because vehicles is not the only threat.

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 worms and slugs, while warmer ponds have caused an rise of blue-green algae, which can be toxic to toads. Milder winters also lead toads to wake up from their dormancy more often, disrupting the energy conservation crucial to their life cycle. Habitat destruction – especially the loss of big water bodies – is another menace.

Experts are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on wildlife," but "There is a big value in just having these animals around." But toads do have an significant part in the food chain, eating almost any small creatures or small animals they can fit in their mouths and in turn feeding a variety of predators, such as hedgehogs and otters. Enhancing conditions for toads – ie creating more ponds, protecting forests and installing toad tunnels – "benefits for a wide range of additional wildlife."

Historical Significance

An additional motive to try to keep toads present is their "important cultural value," adds an specialist. Legends and tales around toads go back {centuries|hundred