🔗 Share this article

It is Friday evening at 7:30, but instead of heading to the pub or watching a film, I've caught a train to a town in the countryside to meet up with volunteers from a amphibian rescue group. These dedicated individuals sacrifice their evenings to protect the local toad population.

An Alarming Drop in Population

The Bufo bufo is becoming increasingly rare. A latest study conducted by an wildlife conservation group showed that the British common toad numbers have almost halved since the mid-1980s. Seeing a species that has been a fixture of the British countryside in decline is labeled "worrying" by experts. Toads "don't need very specific conditions" and "ought to live successfully in most of areas in Britain," meaning 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 causes for the drop, cars is a major factor. Estimates indicate that 20 tons of toads are killed on British roads annually – that is, hundreds of thousands. Unlike frogs, which might be content to mate "if you left out a bucket of water," toads prefer big bodies of water. Their ability to remain away from water for more time than frogs means they can journey farther to find them – sometimes long distances. They tend to stick to their ancestral migration routes – it's common for adult toads to return to their birth pond to mate.

Migration Habits

Fittingly, the first toads start their journey for a mate around February 14th, but some move as late as April, waiting until it gets night and moving after sunset. During that time, toads start moving from where they have been overwintering "almost simultaneously."

A local helper, who was raised in the region and has been trying to protect its amphibians since he was a boy, explains that "Their sole purpose: to go and mate." If their path crosses a road, they could be killed by traffic, and that mating period would be lost – stopping a new generation of toads from being born.

Rescue Groups Throughout the United Kingdom

Seeing hundreds of toad carcasses on nearby streets "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has resulted in the creation of rescue teams throughout the UK – 274 groups are officially listed with a countrywide program. These teams collect toads and transport them across roads in containers, as well as recording the quantity of toads they encounter and lobbying for other safety solutions, such as road closures and underground wildlife tunnels.

Patrols tend to operate during the migration season, when amphibian movements are frequent. However, this means they can overlook numbers of toadlets, which, having existed as spawn and then tadpoles, leave their water habitats over an irregular timetable in the end of summer. Because of their size – 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 lost, their carcasses can be tallied.

Annual Work

Unlike many groups, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth season of functioning, go out throughout the year – not every night, but whenever conditions are warm and wet, or if someone has reported about a amphibian spotting in their group chat. When I ask to join them on patrol, they admit it is "not ideal conditions" – toad hibernation season has started and it's been a arid period – but several of the helpers gamely agree to patrol their area with me and see what we can find. "If anyone can locate any toads tonight, those two will find one," says the group coordinator, pointing to her 14-year-old son and the experienced member. After for 120 minutes without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have climbed over a barbed wire fence to check under some logs.

Community Participation

The mother and son joined the group a while back. The teenager adores all things wildlife and has an ambition to become a environmentalist, so his mother started to look for things they could do together to protect native animals. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the 41-year-old entrepreneur explains – so when the group was looking for a new manager recently, she volunteered for the role.

The teenager, too, has played an important role in the organization. A clip he created, imploring the local council to block a street through a nature reserve during migration season, swung the decision the group's way. After a twelve months of lobbying, the authority approved an "access-only" restriction between 5pm and 5am from late winter through to April. The majority of motorists respected and avoided the route.

Additional Species and Challenges

A few vehicles go by when I'm out on patrol 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 daddy longlegs, which dances in his palms. Yet in spite of the group's best efforts to show me a toad, the local population has obviously settled down for the winter. It appears that I wouldn't have had any better success 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 a different helper, who has kindly made the effort to check for toads in a famous site, thought to be the largest accurately monitored toad group in the UK, reaches me with the subject line: "No toads." However, in late winter, he tells me, the team expects to help approximately ten thousand mature amphibians over the street.

Effectiveness and Limitations

What level of impact can these groups actually make? "The fact that people are performing this consistently on cold, damp and unpleasant evenings is quite extraordinary," notes an expert. "That's something that very much should be celebrated." However, while toad patrols are able to slow the decline, they can't stop it completely – not least because vehicles is just one danger.

Other Dangers

The climate crisis has resulted in extended spells of drought, which cause the poor environment for some of the animals that toads consume, such as worms and slugs, while higher water temperatures have caused an rise of blue-green algae, which can be toxic to toads. Milder winters also cause toads to wake up from their dormancy more often, interfering with the resource preservation vital to their existence. Habitat destruction – particularly the disappearance of big water bodies – is another menace.

Experts are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on biodiversity," but "There is a big value in just their presence." But toads do have an significant part in the food chain, consuming pretty much any small creatures or small animals they can swallow and in turn feeding a variety 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 wide range of additional wildlife."

Historical Importance

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