🔗 Share this article

It is Friday evening at 7:30, but rather than heading to the pub or watching a film, I've taken a train to a market town in the countryside to meet up with volunteers from a amphibian rescue group. These dedicated individuals give up their nights to safeguard the local toad population.

An Alarming Decline in Population

The Bufo bufo is growing more uncommon. A recent study conducted by an amphibian and reptile charity revealed that the British common toad numbers have dropped by half since the mid-1980s. Seeing a species that has been a fixture of the UK landscape in decrease is described as "concerning" by experts. Toads "don't need very particular environments" and "should be able to live successfully in most of habitats in the UK," meaning 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 Threat from Traffic

Though the study didn't cover the causes for the decline, traffic certainly plays a part. Estimates suggest that 20 tonnes of toads are crushed on British roads every year – that is, hundreds of thousands. In contrast to frogs, which would probably be happy to mate "if you left out a small container," toads prefer large ponds. Their ability to stay out of water for more time than frogs allows they can travel further to reach them – sometimes hundreds of metres. They tend to follow their traditional paths – it's typical for mature amphibians to go back to their birth pond to mate.

Breeding Patterns

Fittingly, the first toads start their journey for a mate around Valentine's day, but some move as late as April, waiting until it gets dark and moving after sunset. During that period, toads start moving from wherever they have been hibernating "almost simultaneously."

A local helper, who grew up in the region and has been working to save its toad population since he was a child, notes that "They've got just one focus: to go and mate." If their route happens to a road, they could all get run over, and that breeding season would never happen – stopping a new generation of toads from being produced.

Toad Patrols Across the UK

Seeing many of toad carcasses on local roads "resonates deeply with people," and has led to the formation of rescue teams throughout the UK – 274 groups are officially listed with a countrywide program. These teams pick up toads and carry them across roads in buckets, as well as recording the number of toads they encounter and lobbying for other safety solutions, such as blocked roads and amphibian passages.

Volunteers usually work during the breeding period, when amphibian movements are more regular. However, this implies they can overlook numbers of toadlets, which, having been eggs and then juveniles, leave their ponds over an unpredictable schedule in the end of summer. Because of their small stature – just a couple of cm wide – "they are destroyed by car traffic." And as being hit "essentially crushes them," it's more difficult to get data on them. At least when mature amphibians are lost, their remains can be tallied.

Year-Round Work

Unlike most patrols, one local team, who are in their eighth season of operating, go out year-round – not every night, but when weather are damp, or if someone has reported about a toad sighting in their messaging app. When I ask to join them on duty, they admit it is "not a toady night" – winter dormancy has started and it's been a arid period – but a few of the volunteers gamely agree to patrol their route with me and search for any toads. "If anyone can locate any toads tonight, that pair will find one," says the patrol manager, pointing to her 14-year-old son and the longtime volunteer. We've been out for two hours without a single toad sighting, and now they have climbed over a barbed wire fence to inspect beneath some wood.

Family Involvement

The mother and son joined the patrol a year and a half ago. The youngster loves all things nature-related and has an ambition to become a environmentalist, so his parent started to look for activities they could do together to help native animals. Now she loves it as much as he does, the middle-aged small business owner explains – so when the team was seeking a fresh coordinator recently, she volunteered for the role.

The teenager, too, has played an important role in the organization. A video he made, urging the local council to close a street through a protected area during migration season, influenced the outcome the team's way. After a twelve months of campaigning, the authority approved an "restricted access" restriction between 5pm and 5am from late winter through to April. The majority of motorists duly avoided the road.

Other Wildlife and Difficulties

Several vehicles go by when I'm out on duty and we discover some victims as a result – no amphibians, but three squashed newts. We spot one live amphibian as well, and the teenager is particularly pleased to see a harvestman, which moves in his palms. Yet in spite of the team's hardest attempts to show me a toad, the native community has obviously settled down for the colder months. It seems that I wouldn't have had any more luck elsewhere in the country – all the rescue teams I contact clarify that it's very difficult at this time of year.

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

One email I receive from a different helper, who has generously made the effort to check for toads in a noted location, considered the biggest tracked toad group in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the title: "No toads." However, in late winter, he informs me, the team plans to assist around 10,000 mature amphibians over the street.

Impact and Challenges

What level of impact can these organizations actually make? "The fact that people are doing this regularly on chilly, wet and miserable evenings is quite extraordinary," notes an researcher. "That's something that very much deserves recognition." However, while rescue teams are able to slow the decline, they cannot prevent it entirely – partly since vehicles is just one danger.

Other Dangers

The global warming has meant extended spells of dry weather, which cause the poor environment for some of the animals that toads eat, such as worms and slugs, while higher water temperatures have caused an increase of toxic plants, which can be toxic to toads. Milder winters also lead toads to wake up from their hibernation more frequently, disrupting the resource preservation crucial to their life cycle. Loss of environment – especially the disappearance of big water bodies – is an additional threat.

Experts are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on biodiversity," however "It's important in just having these animals around." But toads do have an important role in the ecosystem, eating almost any small creatures or tiny organisms they can swallow and in turn sustaining a number of birds and mammals, such as wildlife. Enhancing conditions for toads – ie creating more ponds, protecting forests and installing amphibian passages – "we'll improve them for a whole bunch of other species."

Cultural Significance

Another reason to work to preserve toads around is their "important cultural value," adds an expert. Legends and tales around toads date back {centuries|hundred