Can Britain's Common Toads Survive from Roads and Population Collapse?

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 Wiltshire to join volunteers from a toad patrol. These committed people sacrifice their evenings to safeguard the native amphibian community.

A Worrying Drop in Population

The common toad is growing more rare. A latest study conducted by an amphibian and reptile charity showed that the UK toad population have dropped by half since 1985. Observing a creature that has been a fixture of the British countryside in decrease is described as "worrying" by experts. Toads "don't need very specific conditions" and "ought to live successfully in most of areas in the UK," so if even they are struggling to persist, "it kind of suggests that the ecosystem is unbalanced."

Toad populations across the UK have declined by almost 50% since the 1980s

The Danger from Roads

Though the study didn't cover the causes for the drop, cars certainly plays a part. Calculations indicate that 20 tonnes of toads are crushed on British roads every year – that is, several hundred thousand. In contrast to frogs, which would probably be content to mate "with just a small container," toads favor big bodies of water. Their ability to stay out of water for more time than frogs allows they can journey farther to find them – often long distances. They tend to stick to their ancestral migration routes – it's common for mature amphibians to return to their birth pond to mate.

Breeding Habits

Appropriately enough, the initial amphibians start their journey for a mate around February 14th, but others travel as late as April, until it gets dark and travelling after sunset. During that period, toads start moving from wherever they have been hibernating "almost simultaneously."

A local helper, who was raised in the area and has been trying to protect its amphibians since he was a boy, notes that "They've got just one focus: to go and mate." If their path happens to a road, they could be killed by traffic, and that breeding season would be lost – stopping a new generation of toads from being born.

Toad Patrols Across the UK

Seeing many of dead toads on nearby streets "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has resulted in the creation of rescue teams across the UK – hundreds of organizations are officially listed with a countrywide program. These teams pick up toads and transport them over streets in buckets, as well as counting the number of toads they find and lobbying for other protection measures, such as road closures and underground wildlife tunnels.

Patrols tend to operate during the migration season, when amphibian movements are more regular. However, this means they can miss numbers of young toads, which, having been spawn and then juveniles, leave their ponds over an irregular timetable in late summer. Because of their small stature – just one or two centimetres wide – "they can get obliterated by car traffic." And as being run over "basically turns them into mush," it's more difficult to get data on them. At least when adult toads are killed, their carcasses can be counted.

Annual Work

In contrast to many groups, one local team, who are in their eighth year of functioning, go out throughout the year – not nightly, but when weather are warm and wet, or if someone has posted about a toad sighting in their group chat. When I request to accompany them on patrol, they concede it is "not ideal conditions" – toad hibernation season has started and it's been a dry day – but several of the volunteers gamely agree to patrol their area with me and search for any toads. "Should anyone can find any toads tonight, that pair will spot one," says the patrol manager, pointing to her 14-year-old son and the experienced member. We've been out for two hours without a single toad sighting, and now they have climbed over a wire barrier to check under some wood.

Community Participation

The family duo joined the patrol a while back. The youngster loves all things wildlife and has an ambition to become a conservationist, so his mother started to search for things they could do together to help native animals. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the 41-year-old small business owner explains – so when the group was looking for a new manager lately, she decided to step up.

The teenager, too, has played an important role in the organization. A clip he created, urging the municipal authority to block a street through a protected area during breeding time, influenced the outcome the group's way. After a year of lobbying, the council approved an "access-only" restriction between 5pm and 5am from late winter through to April. Most drivers duly avoided the road.

Other Wildlife and Challenges

Several vehicles go past when I'm out on patrol and we discover some casualties as a result – no amphibians, but three squashed newts. We see 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 show me a toad, the native community has clearly gone dormant for the colder months. 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 time of year.

The group expects to help approximately 10,000 adult toads across the road

One email I get from another volunteer, who has kindly taken the trouble to look for toads in a famous site, considered the biggest tracked toad population in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the title: "No toads." However, in February and March, he informs me, the team expects to help around ten thousand adult toads across the road.

Effectiveness and Challenges

How much of a difference can these groups actually make? "The fact that people are performing this consistently on cold, damp and unpleasant late nights is quite extraordinary," notes an researcher. "This effort that very much deserves recognition." However, while rescue teams are able to slow the decline, they cannot prevent it entirely – not least because vehicles is just one danger.

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 warmer ponds have led to an increase of blue-green algae, which can be harmful to toads. Warmer cold seasons also lead toads to wake up from their dormancy more often, interfering with the resource preservation crucial to their existence. Habitat destruction – especially the disappearance of large ponds – is an additional threat.

Researchers are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on wildlife," however "It's important in just having these animals around." But toads do have an important role in the ecosystem, eating pretty much any invertebrates or tiny organisms they can fit in their mouths and in turn sustaining a variety of birds and mammals, such as hedgehogs and otters. Enhancing situations for toads – such as creating more ponds, protecting forests and constructing amphibian passages – "benefits for a whole bunch of other species."

Cultural Importance

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