🔗 Share this article

It's a Friday evening at half past seven, but instead of going out or relaxing at home, I've caught a train to a town in the countryside to join volunteers from a amphibian rescue group. These committed people give up their evenings to safeguard the local toad population.

A Worrying Decline in Numbers

The common toad is growing more uncommon. A latest study conducted by an amphibian and reptile charity revealed that the UK toad population have almost halved since 1985. Seeing a creature that has been a fixture of the UK landscape in decrease is described as "worrying" by researchers. Toads "don't need very specific conditions" and "ought to live successfully in the majority of habitats in Britain," meaning if even they are struggling to persist, "it kind of suggests that the ecosystem is unbalanced."

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

The Threat from Traffic

Though the study didn't examine the reasons for the drop, cars is a major factor. Calculations indicate that 20 tonnes of toads are killed on UK roads every year – that is, several hundred thousand. Unlike frogs, which might be happy to mate "with just a bucket of water," toads prefer big bodies of water. Their ability to stay out of water for more time than frogs allows they can travel further to reach them – often long distances. They usually stick to their traditional paths – it's common for adult toads to go back to their birth pond to mate.

Migration Patterns

Appropriately enough, the first toads start their journey for a partner around February 14th, but others travel as late as April, waiting until it gets night and moving through the night. During that time, toads begin migrating from wherever they have been hibernating "almost simultaneously."

A local helper, who grew up in the area and has been trying to protect its toad population since he was a boy, notes that "They've got just one focus: to go and have an orgy." If their route happens to a road, they could all get run over, and that breeding season would be lost – stopping a next generation of toads from being produced.

Rescue Groups Throughout the UK

Finding hundreds of dead toads on nearby streets "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has led to the creation of rescue teams throughout the UK – hundreds of organizations are officially listed with a countrywide program. These groups collect toads and carry them over streets in buckets, as well as counting the number of toads they encounter and advocating 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 means they can miss groups of young toads, which, having been spawn and then tadpoles, exit their water habitats over an unpredictable schedule in the end of summer. Because of their size – just a couple of cm wide – "they are destroyed by car traffic." And as being run over "essentially crushes them," it's harder to collect information on them. At least when adult toads are killed, their remains can be counted.

Year-Round Efforts

Unlike most patrols, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth year of operating, go out throughout the year – not every night, but when conditions are warm and wet, or if someone has reported about a amphibian spotting in their group chat. When I request to accompany them on patrol, they admit it is "not a toady night" – toad hibernation season has started and it's been a arid period – but a few 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, that pair will spot one," says the patrol manager, pointing to her teenage child and the experienced member. After for two hours without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have scaled a barbed wire fence to inspect beneath some logs.

Community Involvement

The mother and son became part of the patrol a while back. The youngster adores all things wildlife and has an goal to become a environmentalist, so his mother started to look for things they could do jointly to protect local wildlife. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the middle-aged entrepreneur explains – so when the group was looking for a fresh coordinator lately, she decided to step up.

The teenager, too, has been instrumental in the group. A video he created, urging the municipal authority to block a road through a protected area during breeding time, influenced the outcome the group's way. After a year of campaigning, the authority approved an "restricted access" restriction between evening and morning from February through to April. Most drivers duly avoided the route.

Other Wildlife and Challenges

Several cars go by when I'm out on duty and we find some casualties as a consequence – no amphibians, but several crushed salamanders. We spot one live amphibian as well, and the youngster is especially excited to see a harvestman, which moves in his hands. Yet despite the team's best efforts to show me a toad, the local population has clearly settled down for the colder months. It seems that I wouldn't have had any more luck anywhere else in the nation – all the rescue teams I reach out to explain that it's near-impossible 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 check for toads in a noted location, considered the biggest tracked toad population in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the subject line: "None found." However, in late winter, he tells me, the team expects to help around 10,000 adult toads over the street.

Effectiveness and Limitations

What level of impact can these organizations truly achieve? "The fact that people are doing this consistently on cold, damp and unpleasant late nights 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 cannot prevent it entirely – partly since traffic is just one danger.

Additional Threats

The global warming has resulted in longer periods of drought, which create the poor environment for some of the animals that toads eat, such as invertebrates, while warmer ponds have led to an increase of toxic plants, which can be harmful to toads. Warmer cold seasons also cause toads to wake up from their dormancy more frequently, disrupting the energy conservation vital to their life cycle. Habitat destruction – particularly the disappearance of large ponds – is an additional threat.

Experts are "always a bit worried about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on biodiversity," however "It's important in just their presence." But toads play an significant part in the food chain, consuming pretty much any invertebrates or small animals they can fit in their mouths and in turn sustaining a variety of birds and mammals, such as wildlife. Improving conditions for toads – ie creating more ponds, protecting forests and constructing toad tunnels – "benefits for a wide range of other species."

Historical Significance

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