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

It's Friday night at half past seven, but rather than heading to the pub or watching a film, I've caught 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 evenings to protect the local toad population.

A Worrying Drop in Numbers

The common toad is becoming increasingly uncommon. A latest study conducted by an wildlife conservation group revealed that the British common toad numbers have almost halved since the mid-1980s. Seeing a species that has been a fixture of the UK landscape in decline is described as "concerning" by experts. Toads "don't need very particular environments" and "should be able to live quite well in the majority of areas in the UK," so 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 Roads

Though the study didn't examine the causes for the decline, traffic certainly plays a part. Calculations suggest that 20 tonnes of toads are crushed on UK roads annually – that is, several hundred thousand. In contrast to frogs, which would probably be content 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 long distances. They usually follow their ancestral migration routes – it's typical for mature amphibians to go back to their birth pond to mate.

Migration Habits

Fittingly, the initial amphibians begin their quest for a mate around February 14th, but some move as far as spring, until it gets night and travelling after sunset. During that period, toads start moving from wherever they have been overwintering "almost simultaneously."

One volunteer, who was raised in the area and has been trying to protect its amphibians since he was a boy, explains that "They've got just one focus: to go and mate." If their path happens to a road, they could all get run over, and that mating period would never happen – preventing a new generation of toads from being produced.

Toad Patrols Throughout the United Kingdom

Seeing hundreds of toad carcasses on nearby streets "resonates deeply with people," and has resulted in the formation of rescue teams throughout the UK – 274 groups are officially listed with a countrywide program. These groups pick up toads and carry them over streets in buckets, as well as counting the number of toads they encounter and advocating for other protection measures, such as blocked roads and amphibian passages.

Patrols tend to operate during the breeding period, when amphibian movements are frequent. However, this implies they can overlook groups of young toads, which, having been spawn and then tadpoles, 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 "basically turns them into mush," it's harder to get data on them. At least when mature amphibians are killed, their remains can be tallied.

Annual Work

Unlike many groups, one local team, who are in their eighth season of functioning, go out throughout the year – not nightly, but whenever weather are damp, or if someone has posted about a toad sighting in their messaging app. When I ask to join 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 volunteers willingly accept 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 patrol manager, indicating her teenage child and the longtime volunteer. After for 120 minutes without a single toad sighting, and now they have scaled a barbed wire fence to check under some logs.

Community Involvement

The family duo became part of the patrol a while back. The youngster adores all things nature-related and has an goal to become a conservationist, so his parent started to look for things they could do together to protect local wildlife. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the 41-year-old small business owner tells me – so when the team was seeking a fresh coordinator lately, she decided to step up.

The youth, too, has played an important role in the group. A video he made, imploring the local council to block a street through a protected area during migration season, influenced the outcome the team's way. After a year of lobbying, the authority approved an "access-only" restriction between evening and morning from February through to spring. Most drivers respected and avoided the route.

Additional Species and Difficulties

A few vehicles go by when I'm out on patrol and we find some casualties as a result – no amphibians, but three squashed newts. We see one living newt as well, and the youngster is particularly pleased to see a daddy longlegs, which moves in his hands. Yet in spite of the group's hardest attempts to let me see a toad, the native community has clearly gone dormant for the colder months. It seems that I couldn't have found any more luck 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 get from a different helper, who has generously taken the trouble to look for toads in a famous site, considered the largest accurately monitored toad group in the UK, reaches me with the subject line: "No toads." However, in February and March, he informs me, the team expects to help around 10,000 adult toads across the road.

Effectiveness and Limitations

How much of a difference can these organizations actually make? "The reality that volunteers are performing this consistently on chilly, wet and miserable evenings is quite extraordinary," says an researcher. "This effort that very much should be celebrated." However, while toad patrols are able to slow the decline, they can't stop it completely – not least because vehicles is not the only threat.

Additional Threats

The climate crisis has resulted in longer periods of drought, which create the wrong conditions for some of the creatures that toads consume, such as worms and slugs, while warmer ponds have led to an increase of toxic plants, which can be harmful to toads. Warmer cold seasons also lead toads to emerge from their dormancy more frequently, disrupting the energy conservation crucial to their existence. Habitat destruction – particularly the loss of big water bodies – is another menace.

Researchers are "always a bit worried about overemphasizing practical benefits on wildlife," but "It's important in just having these animals around." But toads do have an important role in the food chain, consuming almost any invertebrates or small animals they can fit in their mouths and in turn sustaining a variety of predators, such as wildlife. Enhancing conditions for toads – ie building water habitats, conserving woodland and installing amphibian passages – "benefits for a whole bunch of additional wildlife."

Cultural Importance

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