🔗 Share this article

It is Friday evening at half past seven, but rather than going out or watching a film, I've caught a train to a market town in the countryside to join local helpers from a toad patrol. These dedicated individuals give up their nights to safeguard the native amphibian community.

A Worrying Drop in Population

The common toad is becoming increasingly uncommon. A latest research conducted by an wildlife conservation group showed that the British common toad numbers have dropped by half since the mid-1980s. Observing a species that has been a stalwart of the UK landscape in decrease is labeled "concerning" by experts. Toads "don't require very particular environments" and "should be able to live successfully in the majority of areas in Britain," so if even they are struggling to persist, "it kind of suggests that things are not as they should be."

The UK toad population has almost halved since 1985

The Danger from Roads

Though the research didn't cover the reasons for the drop, cars is a major factor. Calculations indicate that 20 tons of toads are killed on British roads annually – that is, several hundred thousand. In contrast to frogs, which would probably be content to mate "with just a small container," toads prefer large ponds. Their capacity to stay out of water for longer than frogs means they can journey farther to find them – often hundreds of metres. They tend to follow their traditional paths – it's common for mature amphibians to go back to their natal pond to mate.

Migration Patterns

Fittingly, the first toads begin their quest for a partner around Valentine's day, but others travel as late as spring, waiting until it gets night and travelling through the night. During that time, toads begin migrating from where they have been overwintering "all pretty much at the same time."

A local helper, who was raised in the region and has been working to save its toad population since he was a boy, explains that "Their sole purpose: to go and mate." If their path happens to a street, they could all get run over, and that breeding season would never happen – preventing a next generation of toads from being born.

Toad Patrols Throughout the United Kingdom

Finding many of dead toads on local roads "resonates deeply with people," and has led to the creation of rescue teams across the UK – 274 groups are currently registered with a countrywide program. These teams collect toads and transport them over streets in containers, as well as recording the number of toads they find and lobbying for other protection measures, such as road closures and underground wildlife tunnels.

Volunteers usually work during the breeding period, when amphibian movements are frequent. However, this means they can overlook numbers of toadlets, which, having existed as spawn and then juveniles, exit their water habitats over an irregular timetable in the end of 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 get data on them. At least when mature amphibians are killed, their remains can be counted.

Year-Round Work

Unlike many groups, one local team, who are in their eighth season of operating, go out throughout the year – not nightly, but when weather are warm and wet, or if someone has posted about a amphibian spotting in their messaging app. When I ask to join them on patrol, they concede it is "not a toady night" – toad hibernation season has begun and it's been a dry day – but several of the helpers gamely agree to patrol their route with me and search for any toads. "If anyone can find any toads tonight, those two will find one," says the patrol manager, indicating her teenage child and the experienced member. After for 120 minutes without a single toad sighting, and now they have scaled a barbed wire fence to check under some wood.

Family Involvement

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 conservationist, so his parent started to search for activities they could do together to protect local wildlife. Now she loves it as much as he does, the 41-year-old entrepreneur explains – so when the group was looking for a new manager lately, she decided to step up.

The teenager, too, has been instrumental in the organization. A video he created, urging the local council to block a road through a protected area during breeding time, influenced the outcome the team's way. After a year of lobbying, the council agreed to an "access-only" rule between evening and morning from late winter through to spring. Most drivers duly avoided the road.

Other Wildlife and Challenges

A few vehicles go past when I'm out on patrol and we discover some casualties as a result – no amphibians, but three squashed newts. We spot one live amphibian as well, and the youngster is particularly pleased to see a daddy longlegs, which moves in his palms. Yet in spite of the group's best efforts to let me see a toad, the local population has clearly gone dormant for the winter. It appears that I couldn't have found any more luck elsewhere in the nation – all the patrol groups I reach out to explain that it's very difficult at this season.

They project rescuing nearly 10,000 grown amphibians during migration

One email I get from another volunteer, who has generously taken the trouble to check for toads in a noted location, thought to be the biggest tracked toad population in the UK, reaches me with the title: "No toads." However, in late winter, he informs me, the group plans to assist approximately ten thousand mature amphibians across the road.

Impact and Challenges

What level of impact 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 expert. "That's something 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.

Other Dangers

The climate crisis has meant extended spells of drought, which cause the wrong conditions for some of the animals that toads consume, such as worms and slugs, while higher water temperatures have led to an increase of toxic plants, which can be harmful to toads. Milder winters also lead toads to emerge from their hibernation more often, interfering with the energy conservation vital to their existence. Habitat destruction – especially the disappearance of big water bodies – is an additional threat.

Researchers are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on wildlife," however "There is a big value in just their presence." But toads play an important role in the ecosystem, eating almost any small creatures or small animals they can fit in their mouths and in turn feeding a number of predators, such as wildlife. Improving situations for toads – ie creating more ponds, protecting forests and constructing toad tunnels – "we'll improve them for a whole bunch of other species."

Historical Importance

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