🔗 Share this article

It is Friday night at 7:30, but instead of heading to the pub or relaxing at home, 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.

A Worrying Drop in Population

The Bufo bufo is growing more uncommon. A latest study conducted by an wildlife conservation group revealed that the UK toad population have dropped by half since 1985. Observing a species that has been a stalwart of the UK landscape in decrease is labeled "worrying" by experts. Toads "don't require very specific conditions" and "should be able to live successfully in the majority of areas in the UK," so if even they are not managing to survive, "it indicates that things are not as they should be."

Since 1985, Britain's toad numbers have nearly been cut in half

The Danger from Traffic

Though the study didn't examine the causes for the drop, cars certainly plays a part. Calculations indicate that 20 tons of toads are crushed on British roads every year – in other words, several hundred thousand. Unlike frogs, which would probably be happy to mate "if you left out a bucket of water," toads prefer large ponds. Their capacity to stay out of water for longer than frogs allows they can travel further to reach them – sometimes long distances. They usually stick to their traditional paths – it's typical for adult toads to return to their birth pond to mate.

Migration Habits

Fittingly, the first toads start their journey for a mate around Valentine's day, but others travel as far as spring, until it gets night and moving after sunset. During that period, 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 amphibians since he was a boy, explains that "Their sole purpose: 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 produced.

Toad Patrols Throughout the UK

Seeing many of dead toads on nearby streets "resonates deeply with people," and has led to the formation of rescue teams across the UK – hundreds of organizations are officially listed with a national initiative. These teams pick up toads and transport them across roads in containers, as well as recording the number of toads they encounter and advocating for other protection measures, such as road closures and amphibian passages.

Volunteers tend to operate during the migration season, when toad crossings are frequent. However, this implies they can miss numbers of young toads, 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 a couple of cm wide – "they are destroyed by vehicles." And as being hit "basically turns them into mush," it's more difficult to collect information on them. At least when adult toads are killed, their carcasses can be counted.

Annual Work

In contrast to many groups, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth season of operating, go out throughout the year – not nightly, but when weather are warm and wet, or if a member has reported about a toad sighting in their messaging app. When I ask to join them on patrol, they concede it is "not a toady night" – winter dormancy has begun and it's been a dry day – but several of the volunteers gamely agree to patrol their route 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 14-year-old son and the experienced member. After for 120 minutes without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have scaled a wire barrier to inspect beneath some wood.

Community Participation

The family duo became part of the group a while back. The teenager adores all things nature-related and has an goal to become a environmentalist, so his parent started to look for things they could do together to help native animals. Now she loves it as much as he does, the 41-year-old entrepreneur tells me – so when the team was looking for a new manager lately, she volunteered for the role.

The youth, too, has played an important role in the group. A video he made, urging the municipal authority to block a road through a nature reserve during breeding time, influenced the outcome the team's way. After a year of lobbying, the council agreed to an "access-only" restriction between evening and morning from February through to spring. The majority of motorists duly avoided the route.

Other Wildlife and Difficulties

A few cars go by when I'm out on patrol and we discover some victims as a result – no toads, but three squashed newts. We spot one live amphibian as well, and the teenager is especially excited 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 local population has clearly settled down for the winter. It seems that I couldn't have found any more luck anywhere else in the nation – all the rescue teams 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 another volunteer, who has generously taken the trouble to look for toads in a famous site, thought to be the largest accurately monitored toad population in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the subject line: "No toads." However, in late winter, he informs me, the group plans to assist around ten thousand mature amphibians over the street.

Effectiveness and Challenges

How much of a difference can these groups actually make? "The reality that people are doing this regularly on cold, damp and unpleasant evenings is quite extraordinary," says an expert. "That's something that very much should be celebrated." However, while toad patrols are able to reduce the drop, they can't stop it completely – partly since traffic is not the only threat.

Additional Threats

The global warming has resulted in extended spells of drought, which create the wrong conditions for some of the creatures that toads eat, such as worms and slugs, while higher water temperatures have led to an rise of toxic plants, which can be harmful to toads. Warmer cold seasons also lead toads to emerge from their hibernation more often, interfering with the energy conservation vital to their life cycle. Loss of environment – particularly the loss of big water bodies – is an additional threat.

Experts are "always a bit worried about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on biodiversity," but "There is a big value in just having these animals around." But toads do have an important role in the food chain, eating almost any small creatures or tiny organisms they can fit in their mouths and in turn sustaining a variety of birds and mammals, such as wildlife. Improving situations for toads – such as creating more ponds, protecting forests and constructing amphibian passages – "we'll improve them for a whole bunch of other species."

Historical Importance

An additional motive to try to keep toads around is their "historical significance," adds an specialist. Myths and folklore around toads date back {centuries|hundred