Can Britain's Toads Be Saved from Roads and Population Collapse?

It is a Friday evening at half past seven, but rather than going out or relaxing at home, I've caught a train to a town in Wiltshire to join volunteers from a toad patrol. These committed people sacrifice their nights to safeguard the native amphibian community.

An Alarming Decline in Numbers

The Bufo bufo is becoming increasingly uncommon. A recent study conducted by an amphibian and reptile charity showed that the British common toad numbers have almost halved since 1985. Observing a creature that has been a stalwart of the UK landscape in decrease is described as "worrying" by researchers. Toads "don't need very specific conditions" and "ought to live quite well in the majority 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. Calculations indicate that 20 tonnes of toads are crushed on UK roads every year – that is, hundreds of thousands. Unlike frogs, which would probably be happy to mate "with just a small container," toads prefer big bodies of water. Their capacity to remain away from water for more time than frogs allows they can journey farther to find them – sometimes hundreds of metres. They tend to follow their traditional paths – it's common for mature amphibians to go back 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 far as spring, waiting until it gets dark and moving after sunset. During that period, toads begin migrating from wherever they have been hibernating "almost simultaneously."

A local helper, who grew up in the area and has been trying to protect its toad population since he was a child, notes that "They've got just one focus: to go and have an orgy." If their path happens to a road, they could be killed by traffic, and that breeding season would be lost – stopping a next generation of toads from being produced.

Rescue Groups Throughout the United Kingdom

Seeing hundreds of dead toads on nearby streets "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has led to the creation of toad patrols across the UK – hundreds of organizations are currently registered with a national initiative. These groups collect toads and carry them across roads in buckets, as well as recording the quantity of toads they encounter and lobbying for other protection measures, such as blocked roads and amphibian passages.

Volunteers tend to operate during the migration season, when amphibian movements are more regular. However, this means they can overlook numbers of young toads, which, having been eggs and then juveniles, leave their ponds over an unpredictable schedule in the end of summer. Because of their small stature – just one or two centimetres wide – "they are destroyed by vehicles." And as being run over "essentially crushes them," it's harder to get data on them. At least when mature amphibians are lost, their remains can be tallied.

Annual Work

Unlike most patrols, one local team, who are in their eighth season of functioning, go out year-round – not every night, but whenever conditions are warm and wet, or if someone has reported about a amphibian spotting in their group chat. When I ask to join them on duty, they concede it is "not ideal conditions" – toad hibernation season has started and it's been a arid period – but a few of the helpers gamely agree to walk up and down their area with me and search for any toads. "If anyone can find any toads tonight, that pair will spot one," says the group coordinator, indicating her teenage child and the experienced member. We've been out for two hours without a single toad sighting, and now they have scaled a barbed wire fence to inspect beneath some logs.

Community Involvement

The mother and son joined the group a while back. The teenager loves all things wildlife and has an goal to become a environmentalist, so his parent started to look for activities they could do jointly to protect native animals. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the 41-year-old entrepreneur tells me – so when the team was seeking a new manager lately, she decided to step up.

The youth, too, has been instrumental in the organization. A clip he created, imploring the local council to block a road through a nature reserve during breeding time, influenced the outcome the group's way. After a twelve months of campaigning, the council agreed to an "restricted access" restriction between evening and morning from February through to April. The majority of motorists respected and avoided the route.

Additional Species and Difficulties

A few cars go past when I'm out on patrol and we find some victims as a result – no amphibians, but several crushed salamanders. We spot one live amphibian as well, and the youngster is especially excited to see a daddy longlegs, which dances in his palms. Yet despite the group's hardest attempts to let me see a toad, the native community has obviously settled down for the colder months. It appears that I couldn't have found any more luck elsewhere in the nation – all the rescue teams I contact explain that it's near-impossible at this time of year.

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 famous site, considered the biggest tracked toad population in the UK, reaches me with the subject line: "None found." However, in late winter, he informs me, the team expects to help approximately ten thousand adult toads across the road.

Effectiveness and Limitations

What level of impact can these organizations actually make? "The fact that volunteers are performing this consistently on cold, damp and unpleasant late nights is remarkable," notes an expert. "This effort that very much should be celebrated." However, while toad patrols are able to reduce the drop, they can't stop it completely – partly since vehicles is just one danger.

Additional Threats

The global warming has meant longer periods of drought, which cause the wrong conditions for some of the animals that toads eat, such as worms and slugs, while warmer ponds have led to an increase of toxic plants, which can be harmful to toads. Milder winters also lead toads to emerge from their hibernation more frequently, interfering with the energy conservation crucial to their life cycle. Habitat destruction – especially the loss of large ponds – is another menace.

Experts are "always a bit worried about overemphasizing practical benefits on biodiversity," but "It's important in just their presence." But toads play an significant part in the food chain, consuming pretty much any invertebrates or tiny organisms they can swallow and in turn sustaining a number of birds and mammals, such as hedgehogs and otters. Improving conditions for toads – such as building water habitats, protecting forests and constructing toad tunnels – "benefits for a wide range of additional wildlife."

Cultural Significance

Another reason to work to preserve toads present is their "important cultural value," notes an specialist. Myths and folklore around toads date back {centuries|hundred