Can Britain's Toads Be Saved from Traffic and Population Collapse?

It is a Friday night at 7:30, but instead of heading to the pub or relaxing at home, I've taken a train to a town in Wiltshire to join local helpers from a toad patrol. These dedicated individuals sacrifice their nights to protect the local toad population.

An Alarming Drop in Population

The common toad is becoming increasingly uncommon. A recent study conducted by an amphibian and reptile charity showed that the UK toad population have dropped by half since 1985. Observing a species that has been a fixture of the British countryside in decrease is described as "worrying" by experts. Toads "don't require very specific conditions" and "should be able to live quite well in the majority of habitats in the UK," meaning if even they are not managing to survive, "it indicates that things are not as they should be."

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

The Threat from Roads

Though the study didn't cover the causes for the drop, cars is a major factor. Calculations indicate that 20 tonnes of toads are crushed on UK roads annually – that is, hundreds of thousands. In contrast to frogs, which would probably be content to mate "with just a bucket of water," toads favor large ponds. Their capacity to stay out of water for longer than frogs means they can journey farther to find them – sometimes hundreds of metres. They usually follow their ancestral migration routes – it's common for adult toads to go back to their birth pond to mate.

Migration Habits

Fittingly, the initial amphibians start their journey for a mate around February 14th, but others travel as late as spring, waiting until it gets night and travelling after sunset. During that time, toads start moving from where they have been hibernating "almost simultaneously."

One volunteer, who was raised in the area and has been trying to protect its amphibians since he was a boy, explains that "They've got just one focus: to go and have an orgy." If their path happens to a road, they could all get run over, and that breeding season would be lost – stopping a new generation of toads from being born.

Rescue Groups Across the United Kingdom

Finding many of toad carcasses on local roads "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has led to the creation of rescue teams across the UK – hundreds of organizations are officially listed with a countrywide program. These groups collect 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 tend to operate during the breeding period, 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 water habitats over an unpredictable schedule in late summer. Because of their size – just a couple of cm wide – "they are destroyed by vehicles." And as being hit "essentially crushes them," it's more difficult to get data on them. At least when adult toads are lost, their remains can be tallied.

Annual Efforts

Unlike most patrols, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth season of operating, go out year-round – not every night, but whenever conditions are warm and wet, or if a member has posted about a toad sighting in their messaging app. When I request to accompany them on patrol, they concede it is "not a toady night" – winter dormancy has started and it's been a dry day – but several of the volunteers gamely agree to patrol their area with me and see what we can find. "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 scaled a barbed wire fence to inspect beneath some wood.

Family Involvement

The family duo became part of the patrol a while back. The youngster loves all things wildlife and has an ambition to become a conservationist, so his mother started to look for activities they could do together to help native animals. Now she loves it as much as he does, the 41-year-old entrepreneur tells me – so when the group was seeking a fresh coordinator lately, she volunteered for the role.

The youth, too, has played an important role in the group. A clip he created, urging the local council to close a street through a nature reserve during breeding time, swung the decision the team's way. After a twelve months of lobbying, the authority agreed to an "access-only" rule between 5pm and 5am from February through to April. The majority of motorists respected and avoided the road.

Other Wildlife and Challenges

Several cars go past when I'm out on patrol and we find some victims as a result – no toads, but several crushed salamanders. We spot one living newt as well, and the teenager is particularly pleased to see a daddy longlegs, which dances in his hands. Yet in spite of the group's best efforts to let me see a toad, the local population has clearly settled down for the colder months. It appears that I wouldn't have had any more luck anywhere else in the nation – all the patrol groups I reach out to explain that it's very difficult at this season.

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

A message I get from a different helper, who has kindly made the effort to look for toads in a famous site, thought to be the largest accurately monitored toad population in the UK, reaches me with the title: "No toads." However, in February and March, he tells me, the team plans to assist approximately 10,000 adult toads over the street.

Effectiveness and Limitations

How much of a difference can these organizations truly achieve? "The fact that people are performing this consistently on chilly, wet and miserable late nights is remarkable," says an researcher. "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 global warming has resulted in longer periods of dry weather, which create the poor environment for some of the animals that toads eat, such as worms and slugs, while higher water temperatures have led to an rise of toxic plants, which can be harmful to toads. Milder winters also cause toads to emerge from their dormancy more frequently, disrupting the energy conservation vital to their existence. Habitat destruction – especially the disappearance of big water bodies – is an additional threat.

Experts are "always a bit worried about overemphasizing practical benefits on wildlife," but "There is a big value in just having these animals around." But toads do have an significant part in the ecosystem, consuming pretty much any small creatures or small animals they can swallow and in turn feeding a number of predators, such as hedgehogs and otters. Enhancing situations for toads – such as creating more ponds, protecting forests and constructing toad tunnels – "benefits for a wide range of additional wildlife."

Cultural Significance

An additional motive to work to preserve toads around is their "important cultural value," adds an expert. Legends and tales around toads go back {centuries|hundred