🔗 Share this article

It's a Friday evening at half past seven, but instead of going out or relaxing at home, I've taken a train to a market town in Wiltshire to meet up with volunteers from a toad patrol. These committed people sacrifice their evenings to safeguard the local toad population.

A Worrying Drop in Numbers

The Bufo bufo is becoming increasingly uncommon. A recent research conducted by an wildlife conservation group revealed that the UK toad population have almost halved since 1985. Observing a creature that has been a fixture of the British countryside in decline is labeled "concerning" by experts. Toads "don't need very specific conditions" and "ought to live quite well in most of habitats in Britain," meaning 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 study didn't cover the reasons for the drop, traffic certainly plays a part. Calculations suggest that 20 tonnes of toads are killed on UK roads annually – that is, several hundred thousand. In contrast to frogs, which might be happy to mate "with just a bucket of water," toads prefer big bodies of water. Their ability to stay out of water for longer than frogs means they can travel further to reach them – often long distances. They usually follow their traditional paths – it's common for mature amphibians to return to their natal pond to mate.

Migration Habits

Fittingly, the first toads begin their quest for a partner around Valentine's day, but some move as late as April, waiting until it gets dark and moving through the night. During that time, toads begin migrating from wherever they have been overwintering "all pretty much at the same time."

A local helper, who grew up in the region and has been working to save its toad population since he was a boy, explains that "They've got just one focus: to go and mate." If their route crosses a street, they could be killed by traffic, and that breeding season would be lost – preventing a new generation of toads from being born.

Rescue Groups Throughout the United Kingdom

Finding hundreds of toad carcasses on nearby streets "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has resulted in the creation of rescue teams throughout the UK – 274 groups are officially listed with a countrywide program. These groups collect toads and transport them across roads in buckets, as well as counting the quantity of toads they encounter and advocating for other protection measures, such as blocked roads and underground wildlife tunnels.

Volunteers usually work during the breeding period, when amphibian movements are more regular. However, this means they can overlook numbers of toadlets, which, having existed as spawn and then juveniles, leave their water habitats over an irregular timetable in late summer. Because of their small stature – just one or two centimetres wide – "they can get obliterated by car traffic." And as being run over "essentially crushes them," it's more difficult to get data on them. At least when mature amphibians are lost, their carcasses can be counted.

Year-Round Efforts

Unlike most patrols, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth year of functioning, go out year-round – not nightly, but whenever weather are warm and wet, or if someone has posted about a amphibian spotting in their group chat. When I request to accompany them on duty, they admit it is "not ideal conditions" – toad hibernation season has begun and it's been a arid period – but several of the helpers willingly accept to patrol their area with me and see what we can find. "If anyone can find any toads tonight, those two will find one," says the patrol manager, indicating her 14-year-old son and the experienced member. We've been out for 120 minutes without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have scaled a barbed wire fence to inspect beneath some logs.

Family Participation

The family duo became part of the group a year and a half ago. The youngster adores all things wildlife and has an goal to become a environmentalist, so his parent started to search for things they could do together to help local wildlife. Now she loves it as much as he does, the 41-year-old entrepreneur explains – so when the team was looking for a fresh coordinator lately, she decided to step up.

The teenager, too, has played an important role in the organization. A clip he made, urging the local council to close a street through a nature reserve during breeding time, swung the decision the team's way. After a twelve months of lobbying, the authority approved an "access-only" rule between 5pm and 5am from late winter through to April. Most drivers duly avoided the road.

Other Wildlife and Challenges

Several cars go past when I'm out on duty and we discover some victims as a result – no amphibians, but several crushed salamanders. We see one living newt as well, and the youngster is especially excited to see a daddy longlegs, which moves 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 winter. It appears that I wouldn't have had any more luck elsewhere in the country – all the patrol groups I contact explain that it's near-impossible at this time of year.

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

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

Effectiveness and Limitations

How much of a difference can these groups actually make? "The fact that volunteers are doing this consistently on cold, damp and unpleasant evenings is remarkable," says an researcher. "This effort that very much deserves recognition." However, while toad patrols are able to reduce the drop, they cannot prevent it entirely – not least because vehicles is not the only threat.

Additional Threats

The global warming 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 led to an rise of blue-green algae, which can be toxic to toads. Warmer cold seasons also cause toads to emerge from their dormancy more frequently, disrupting the resource preservation vital to their existence. Loss of environment – especially the disappearance of big water bodies – is an additional threat.

Experts are "often concerned about overemphasizing practical benefits on biodiversity," but "There is a big value in just having these animals around." But toads play an significant part in the food chain, consuming pretty much any invertebrates or tiny organisms they can swallow and in turn feeding a number of birds and mammals, such as wildlife. Enhancing situations for toads – ie creating more ponds, conserving woodland and constructing amphibian passages – "we'll improve them for a wide range of other species."

Cultural 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