🔗 Share this article

It's Friday evening at 7:30, but rather than going out or watching a film, I've taken a train to a market town in Wiltshire to meet up with local helpers from a toad patrol. These committed people sacrifice their nights to protect the local toad population.

An Alarming Decline in Population

The Bufo bufo is growing more rare. A recent study conducted by an wildlife conservation group revealed that the UK toad population have dropped by half since the mid-1980s. Observing a species that has been a fixture of the UK landscape in decline is described as "concerning" by experts. Toads "don't require very specific conditions" and "should be able to live quite well in most of habitats in Britain," so if even they are struggling to persist, "it indicates that things are not as they should be."

Toad populations across the UK have declined by almost 50% since the 1980s

The Threat from Roads

Though the study didn't examine the causes for the decline, cars is a major factor. Estimates indicate that 20 tonnes of toads are killed on UK roads annually – in other words, several hundred thousand. In contrast to frogs, which would probably be content to mate "if you left out a small container," toads favor large ponds. Their ability to remain away from water for more time than frogs means they can journey farther to reach them – sometimes long distances. They usually stick to their ancestral migration routes – it's typical for adult toads to return to their birth pond to mate.

Breeding Habits

Appropriately enough, the first toads start their journey for a partner around February 14th, but some move as far as April, waiting until it gets dark and travelling through the night. During that time, toads start moving from where they have been overwintering "all pretty much at the same time."

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 have an orgy." If their route happens to a street, they could be killed by traffic, and that breeding season would never happen – preventing a next generation of toads from being produced.

Toad Patrols Across the United Kingdom

Finding many of dead toads 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 national initiative. These groups pick up toads and transport them across roads in buckets, as well as recording the quantity of toads they find and lobbying for other safety solutions, such as road closures and amphibian passages.

Volunteers usually work during the migration season, when toad crossings are frequent. However, this implies they can miss groups of young toads, which, having existed as spawn and then juveniles, leave their ponds 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 hit "basically turns them into mush," it's more difficult to collect information on them. At least when adult toads 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 throughout the year – not every night, 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 duty, they concede it is "not a toady night" – toad hibernation season has started and it's been a arid period – but several of the volunteers gamely agree to walk up and down their area with me and see what we can find. "If anyone can find any toads tonight, those two will spot one," says the patrol manager, pointing to her teenage child and the longtime volunteer. We've been out for 120 minutes without a single toad sighting, and now they have scaled a barbed wire fence to inspect beneath some wood.

Community Participation

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 look for things they could do together to protect local wildlife. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the middle-aged small business owner explains – so when the group was seeking a fresh coordinator lately, she decided to step up.

The teenager, too, has played an important role in the organization. A clip he created, urging the local council to close a street through a nature reserve during breeding time, swung the decision the team's way. After a year of lobbying, the council approved an "access-only" rule between 5pm and 5am from February through to April. The majority of motorists respected and avoided the route.

Additional Species and Challenges

Several vehicles go past when I'm out on patrol and we discover some victims as a consequence – no toads, but several crushed salamanders. We spot one living newt as well, and the youngster is particularly pleased to see a daddy longlegs, which dances in his hands. Yet in spite of the team's best efforts to show me a toad, the local population has obviously gone dormant for the winter. It seems that I couldn't have found any better success elsewhere in the nation – all the rescue teams I contact explain that it's very difficult at this time of year.

They project rescuing nearly 10,000 grown amphibians during migration

One email I receive from another volunteer, who has kindly made the effort to check for toads in a famous site, considered the largest accurately monitored toad population in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the title: "No toads." However, in February and March, he informs me, the group plans to assist around 10,000 mature amphibians across the road.

Effectiveness and Limitations

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 researcher. "This effort that very much deserves recognition." However, while rescue teams 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 extended spells of dry weather, which create the wrong conditions 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 harmful to toads. Warmer cold seasons also cause toads to emerge from their dormancy more often, interfering with the resource preservation crucial to their existence. Loss of environment – particularly the loss of large ponds – is another menace.

Researchers are "always a bit worried about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on biodiversity," however "There is a big value in just their presence." But toads do have an important role in the food chain, eating pretty much any small creatures or tiny organisms they can fit in their mouths and in turn feeding a number of predators, such as wildlife. Enhancing conditions for toads – such as building water habitats, protecting forests and installing toad tunnels – "benefits for a whole bunch of additional wildlife."

Cultural Importance

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