Can the UK's Common Toads Be Saved from Traffic and Terrible Decline?

It's Friday evening at 7:30, but instead of heading to the pub or watching a film, I've taken a train to a market town in the countryside to join local helpers from a amphibian rescue group. These dedicated individuals give up their evenings to safeguard the local toad population.

A Worrying Drop in Population

The common toad is growing more rare. A latest research conducted by an wildlife conservation group showed that the UK toad population have almost halved since the mid-1980s. Seeing a creature that has been a fixture of the UK landscape in decrease is described as "concerning" by researchers. Toads "don't require very particular environments" and "should be able to live quite well in the majority of areas in Britain," so if even they are not managing to survive, "it kind of suggests that the ecosystem is unbalanced."

The UK toad population has almost halved since 1985

The Danger from Traffic

Though the study didn't examine the causes for the decline, cars certainly plays a part. Calculations suggest that 20 tons of toads are crushed on UK roads annually – that is, several hundred thousand. In contrast to frogs, which would probably be content to mate "if you left out a bucket of water," toads favor large ponds. Their ability to remain away from water for more time than frogs allows they can journey farther to find them – sometimes long distances. They tend to follow their ancestral migration routes – it's common for mature amphibians to go back to their natal pond to mate.

Breeding Habits

Fittingly, the initial amphibians begin their quest for a mate around Valentine's day, but some move as far as April, waiting until it gets dark and travelling after sunset. During that period, toads start moving from wherever they have been overwintering "almost simultaneously."

A local helper, who was raised in the area and has been working to save its toad population since he was a boy, explains that "They've got just one focus: to go and mate." If their route crosses a street, they could all get run over, and that mating period would never happen – preventing a new generation of toads from being born.

Toad Patrols Across the United Kingdom

Finding many of toad carcasses on nearby streets "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has resulted in the creation of toad patrols across the UK – hundreds of organizations are currently registered with a countrywide program. These teams collect toads and transport them over streets in buckets, as well as counting the quantity of toads they find and lobbying for other safety solutions, such as blocked roads and underground wildlife tunnels.

Volunteers usually work during the breeding period, when toad crossings are frequent. However, this means they can miss numbers of young toads, which, having been spawn and then juveniles, exit their ponds over an irregular timetable in the end of summer. Because of their size – just a couple of cm wide – "they are destroyed by vehicles." And as being run over "essentially crushes them," it's harder to collect information on them. At least when mature amphibians are lost, their remains can be counted.

Year-Round Work

In contrast to many groups, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth season of operating, go out throughout the year – not nightly, but whenever weather are warm and wet, or if someone has reported about a toad sighting in their messaging app. When I request to accompany them on duty, they admit it is "not ideal conditions" – toad hibernation season has begun and it's been a dry day – but a few of the helpers gamely agree to walk up and down their area with me and see what we can find. "If anyone can locate any toads tonight, those two will find one," says the patrol manager, indicating her 14-year-old son and the longtime volunteer. We've been out for 120 minutes without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have climbed over a wire barrier to inspect beneath some logs.

Community Involvement

The mother and son joined the patrol a year and a half ago. The youngster loves all things nature-related and has an ambition to become a conservationist, so his parent started to search for activities they could do jointly to help native animals. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the middle-aged entrepreneur explains – so when the group was looking for a new manager lately, she decided to step up.

The youth, too, has been instrumental in the organization. A clip he made, imploring the municipal authority to close a road through a nature reserve during migration season, influenced the outcome the group's way. After a year of campaigning, the council approved an "access-only" restriction between evening and morning from late winter through to April. The majority of motorists duly avoided the route.

Additional Species and Difficulties

Several cars go by when I'm out on patrol and we find some casualties as a consequence – no amphibians, but several crushed salamanders. We spot one live amphibian as well, and the youngster is particularly pleased to see a daddy longlegs, which dances in his hands. Yet in spite of the team's hardest attempts to let me see a toad, the native community has clearly gone dormant for the winter. It seems that I couldn't have found any better success elsewhere in the country – all the rescue teams I reach out to explain that it's near-impossible at this time of year.

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

A message I get from a different helper, who has kindly taken the trouble to check for toads in a famous site, considered the biggest tracked toad group in the UK, reaches me with the title: "No toads." However, in late winter, he tells me, the team expects to help approximately ten thousand adult toads over the street.

Impact and Challenges

What level of impact can these groups truly achieve? "The reality that volunteers are doing this regularly on cold, damp and unpleasant evenings is quite extraordinary," notes an expert. "This effort that very much deserves recognition." However, while toad patrols are able to reduce the drop, they cannot prevent it entirely – not least because traffic is just one danger.

Other Dangers

The global warming has meant longer periods of drought, which create the wrong conditions for some of the creatures 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 wake up from their hibernation more frequently, interfering with the resource preservation crucial to their existence. Loss of environment – particularly the disappearance of big water bodies – is an additional threat.

Researchers are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on biodiversity," but "There is a big value in just having these animals around." But toads play an important role in the ecosystem, eating pretty much any small creatures or small animals they can swallow and in turn feeding a variety of predators, such as wildlife. Improving situations for toads – ie building water habitats, conserving woodland and installing toad tunnels – "we'll improve them for a wide range of other species."

Cultural Importance

Another reason to work to preserve toads around is their "important cultural value," adds an specialist. Myths and folklore around toads go back {centuries|hundred