🔗 Share this article

It is Friday evening at 7:30, but rather than heading to the pub or relaxing at home, I've taken a train to a town in Wiltshire to join volunteers from a amphibian rescue group. These dedicated individuals sacrifice their evenings to safeguard the local toad population.

An Alarming Drop in Population

The common toad is becoming increasingly rare. A recent study conducted by an wildlife conservation group showed that the UK toad population have almost halved since the mid-1980s. Seeing a species that has been a stalwart of the British countryside in decrease is labeled "worrying" by researchers. Toads "don't require very particular environments" and "ought to live successfully in the majority of habitats in the UK," so if even they are not managing to survive, "it kind of suggests 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 cover the causes for the drop, cars is a major factor. Estimates suggest that 20 tons of toads are killed on British roads annually – in other words, several hundred thousand. In contrast to frogs, which would probably be happy to mate "with just a bucket of water," toads prefer big bodies of water. Their ability to remain away from water for longer than frogs means they can travel further to reach them – sometimes long distances. They usually follow their ancestral migration routes – it's common for mature amphibians to go back to their birth pond to mate.

Migration Habits

Fittingly, the initial amphibians start their journey for a mate around Valentine's day, but some move as far as April, until it gets night and travelling through the night. During that time, toads begin migrating from wherever they have been overwintering "all pretty much at the same time."

One volunteer, who was raised in the region 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 path crosses a road, they could be killed by traffic, and that mating period would never happen – stopping a new generation of toads from being born.

Toad Patrols Throughout the UK

Finding many of dead toads on nearby streets "resonates deeply with people," and has resulted in the creation of rescue teams throughout the UK – hundreds of organizations are officially listed with a national initiative. These teams collect toads and transport them across roads in buckets, as well as counting the quantity of toads they find and lobbying for other safety solutions, such as blocked roads and amphibian passages.

Patrols usually work during the migration season, when toad crossings are frequent. However, this implies they can overlook numbers of toadlets, which, having been spawn and then juveniles, exit their water habitats 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 carcasses can be counted.

Annual Work

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 a member has posted about a amphibian spotting in their group chat. When I ask to join them on patrol, they admit it is "not a toady night" – winter dormancy has begun and it's been a arid period – but a few of the helpers willingly accept to walk up and down their area with me and see what we can find. "Should anyone can find any toads tonight, that pair will find one," says the patrol manager, indicating her teenage child and the experienced member. We've been out for two hours without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have scaled a barbed wire fence to inspect beneath some wood.

Family Involvement

The family duo joined the patrol a year and a half ago. The teenager adores all things nature-related and has an goal to become a conservationist, so his mother started to search for things they could do together to protect local wildlife. Now she loves it as much as he does, the middle-aged entrepreneur explains – so when the team was looking for a fresh coordinator recently, she decided to step up.

The youth, too, has played an important role in the organization. A video he created, urging the local council to block a street through a nature reserve during migration season, influenced the outcome the team's way. After a year of campaigning, the council agreed to an "restricted access" restriction between evening and morning from late winter through to April. Most drivers respected and avoided the route.

Additional Species and Difficulties

Several cars go by when I'm out on duty and we discover some casualties as a result – no amphibians, but three squashed newts. We see one living newt as well, and the teenager is especially excited to see a daddy longlegs, which dances in his palms. Yet despite the team's best efforts to show me a toad, the native community has clearly gone dormant for the winter. It appears that I wouldn't have had any more luck anywhere else in the country – all the rescue teams I contact clarify that it's near-impossible at this time of year.

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

A message I get from a different helper, who has kindly made the effort to look for toads in a noted location, thought to be the biggest tracked toad population in the UK, reaches me with the subject line: "None found." However, in February and March, he informs me, the team plans to assist around ten thousand mature amphibians across the road.

Impact and Limitations

What level of impact can these organizations actually make? "The reality that volunteers are performing this consistently on cold, damp and unpleasant evenings is quite extraordinary," says an expert. "That's something that very much deserves recognition." However, while rescue teams are able to slow the decline, they can't stop it completely – partly since traffic is not the only threat.

Other Dangers

The climate crisis has resulted in longer periods of drought, which create the poor environment for some of the creatures that toads consume, such as invertebrates, while higher water temperatures have caused an increase of blue-green algae, which can be harmful to toads. Milder winters also lead toads to wake up from their hibernation more often, interfering with the energy conservation crucial to their existence. Habitat destruction – especially the disappearance of large ponds – is another menace.

Researchers are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on biodiversity," however "It's important in just their presence." But toads do have an significant part in the food chain, consuming pretty much any small creatures or tiny organisms they can fit in their mouths and in turn feeding a variety of predators, such as wildlife. Enhancing conditions for toads – such as creating more ponds, protecting forests and installing toad tunnels – "we'll improve them for a whole bunch of additional wildlife."

Historical Importance

An additional motive to try to keep toads present is their "historical significance," notes an specialist. Legends and tales around toads go back {centuries|hundred