Will the UK's Toads Be Saved from Traffic and Population Collapse?

It's a Friday evening at 7:30, but rather than going out or relaxing at home, I've taken a train to a town in the countryside to meet up with local helpers from a toad patrol. These dedicated individuals give up their evenings to protect the local toad population.

A Worrying Decline in Numbers

The common toad is growing more uncommon. A recent study conducted by an wildlife conservation group revealed that the British common toad numbers have almost halved since 1985. Observing a species that has been a fixture of the British countryside in decline is labeled "concerning" by researchers. Toads "don't need very specific conditions" and "should be able to live quite well in most of habitats in the UK," meaning if even they are struggling to persist, "it kind of suggests that things are not as they should be."

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

The Threat from Traffic

Though the study didn't examine the causes for the decline, cars certainly plays a part. Estimates suggest that 20 tons of toads are crushed on UK roads every year – that is, several hundred thousand. In contrast to frogs, which would probably be happy to mate "with just a small container," toads favor big bodies of water. Their capacity to remain away from water for longer than frogs allows they can travel further to find them – sometimes hundreds of metres. They tend to stick to their traditional paths – it's common for mature amphibians to return to their natal pond to mate.

Migration Patterns

Appropriately enough, the initial amphibians start their journey for a partner around February 14th, but some move as late as April, until it gets dark and travelling after sunset. During that period, toads start moving from wherever they have been hibernating "all pretty much at the same time."

One volunteer, who was raised in the area and has been working to save its toad population since he was a boy, notes that "They've got just one focus: to go and mate." If their path crosses a road, they could all get run over, and that mating period would be lost – preventing a new generation of toads from being produced.

Rescue Groups Across the United Kingdom

Seeing many of dead toads on local roads "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has resulted in the formation of rescue teams throughout the UK – hundreds of organizations are officially listed with a national initiative. These teams collect toads and carry them over streets in containers, as well as recording the number of toads they find and lobbying for other protection measures, such as blocked roads and amphibian passages.

Patrols usually work during the breeding period, when toad crossings are frequent. However, this means they can miss numbers of young toads, which, having been eggs and then juveniles, 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 vehicles." And as being hit "basically turns them into mush," it's more difficult to get data on them. At least when adult toads are killed, their remains can be tallied.

Year-Round Work

In contrast to most patrols, one local team, who are in their eighth season of operating, go out year-round – not every night, but whenever weather are damp, or if someone has posted about a toad sighting in their messaging app. When I request to accompany them on duty, they admit it is "not ideal conditions" – winter dormancy has begun and it's been a dry day – but a few of the helpers willingly accept to walk up and down their route with me and see what we can find. "Should anyone can find any toads tonight, those two will spot 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 climbed over a barbed wire fence to check under some logs.

Community Involvement

The family duo joined the patrol a year and a half ago. The youngster adores all things nature-related and has an goal to become a environmentalist, so his parent started to search for activities they could do together to protect local wildlife. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the 41-year-old small business owner tells me – 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 made, imploring the municipal authority to close a street through a nature reserve during breeding time, influenced the outcome the group's way. After a year of campaigning, the authority agreed to an "access-only" rule between evening and morning from February through to April. The majority of motorists duly avoided the road.

Additional Species and Difficulties

A few vehicles go by when I'm out on patrol and we find some casualties as a result – no amphibians, but three squashed newts. We spot one living newt as well, and the youngster is especially excited to see a daddy longlegs, which dances in his hands. Yet in spite of the team's hardest attempts 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 elsewhere in the country – all the patrol groups I reach out to clarify that it's near-impossible at this season.

They project rescuing nearly 10,000 grown amphibians during migration

A message I receive from a different helper, who has kindly taken the trouble to check for toads in a famous site, considered the largest accurately monitored toad population in the UK, reaches me with the subject line: "No toads." However, in late winter, he informs me, the group plans to assist around 10,000 adult toads across the road.

Effectiveness and Limitations

What level of impact can these organizations truly achieve? "The fact that people are performing this consistently on chilly, wet and miserable evenings is remarkable," notes an researcher. "That's something that very much deserves recognition." However, while toad patrols are able to slow the decline, they cannot prevent it entirely – not least because traffic is just one danger.

Additional Threats

The climate crisis has meant longer periods of drought, which cause the wrong conditions for some of the creatures that toads consume, such as worms and slugs, while higher water temperatures have caused an rise of toxic plants, which can be toxic to toads. Warmer cold seasons also lead toads to emerge from their dormancy more frequently, interfering with the resource preservation crucial to their existence. Habitat destruction – particularly the disappearance of large ponds – 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 food chain, consuming almost any invertebrates or tiny organisms they can fit in their mouths and in turn sustaining a number of birds and mammals, such as hedgehogs and otters. Enhancing conditions for toads – such as creating more ponds, conserving woodland and installing amphibian passages – "we'll improve them for a wide range of additional wildlife."

Historical Importance

An additional motive to work to preserve toads present is their "important cultural value," notes an specialist. Myths and folklore around toads go back {centuries|hundred