🔗 Share this article

It's Friday night at 7:30, but rather than going out or watching a film, I've caught a train to a market town in Wiltshire to meet up with volunteers from a amphibian rescue group. These dedicated individuals give up their evenings to protect the native amphibian community.

An Alarming Drop in Population

The Bufo bufo is becoming increasingly uncommon. A latest study conducted by an wildlife conservation group revealed that the British common toad numbers have dropped by half since the mid-1980s. Seeing a species that has been a fixture of the British countryside in decline is described as "worrying" by experts. Toads "don't require very particular environments" and "ought to live successfully in the majority of areas in Britain," so if even they are not managing to survive, "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 research didn't examine the reasons for the drop, traffic is a major factor. Estimates indicate that 20 tonnes of toads are killed on British roads every year – that is, hundreds of thousands. In contrast to frogs, which might be happy to mate "with just a small container," toads prefer big bodies of water. Their capacity to remain away from water for more time than frogs allows they can travel further to find them – sometimes long distances. They tend to stick to their traditional paths – it's typical for adult toads to return to their natal pond to mate.

Migration Patterns

Fittingly, the first toads begin their quest for a partner around Valentine's day, but others travel as far 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."

One volunteer, who was raised in the area and has been working to save its amphibians since he was a boy, explains that "They've got just one focus: to go and have an orgy." 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.

Toad Patrols Across the United Kingdom

Finding many of toad carcasses on nearby streets "resonates deeply with people," and has resulted in the creation of toad patrols across the UK – 274 groups are officially listed with a national initiative. These groups pick up toads and transport them across roads in buckets, as well as recording the quantity of toads they find and lobbying for other safety solutions, such as blocked roads and amphibian passages.

Patrols tend to operate during the breeding period, when amphibian movements are more regular. However, this implies they can miss numbers of young toads, which, having been eggs and then juveniles, exit their water habitats over an unpredictable schedule in the end of summer. Because of their size – just a couple of cm wide – "they are destroyed by car traffic." And as being run over "basically turns them into mush," it's more difficult to collect information on them. At least when adult toads are killed, their remains can be counted.

Year-Round Efforts

Unlike most patrols, one local team, who are in their eighth season of functioning, go out throughout the year – not every night, but whenever conditions are damp, or if a member has posted about a amphibian spotting in their messaging app. When I request to accompany them on duty, they concede it is "not a toady night" – winter dormancy has started and it's been a arid period – but several of the helpers willingly accept 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 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 glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have scaled a barbed wire fence to inspect beneath some wood.

Family Involvement

The mother and son became part of the group a while back. The youngster adores all things nature-related and has an ambition to become a environmentalist, so his parent started to look for activities they could do jointly 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 seeking a new manager lately, she volunteered for the role.

The youth, too, has played an important role in the organization. A video he created, imploring the municipal authority to close a road through a protected area during breeding time, influenced the outcome the team's way. After a year of lobbying, the authority approved an "access-only" rule between 5pm and 5am from February through to spring. The majority of motorists duly avoided the route.

Other Wildlife and Difficulties

A few cars go by when I'm out on duty and we find some victims as a result – no toads, but three squashed newts. We see one live amphibian as well, and the teenager is especially excited to see a daddy longlegs, which moves in his palms. Yet in spite of the team's best efforts to let me see a toad, the local population has clearly gone dormant for the winter. It seems that I couldn't have found any better success anywhere else in the nation – all the rescue teams I reach out to clarify that it's near-impossible at this time of year.

They project rescuing nearly 10,000 grown amphibians during migration

A message I receive from another volunteer, who has generously taken the trouble to check for toads in a noted location, considered the largest accurately monitored toad group in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the subject line: "None found." However, in late winter, he informs me, the group plans to assist around 10,000 mature amphibians across the road.

Effectiveness and Limitations

What level of impact can these groups actually make? "The reality that people are doing this regularly on chilly, wet and miserable evenings is remarkable," says an researcher. "That's something that very much deserves recognition." However, while toad patrols are able to reduce the drop, they can't stop it completely – not least because traffic is not the only threat.

Additional Threats

The global warming has meant longer periods of drought, which cause the poor environment for some of the creatures that toads eat, 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 frequently, interfering with the resource preservation crucial to their existence. Habitat destruction – especially the loss of large ponds – is an additional threat.

Experts are "always a bit worried about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on biodiversity," however "It's important in just their presence." But toads do have an important role in the food chain, consuming almost any invertebrates or tiny organisms they can fit in their mouths and in turn sustaining a variety of predators, such as hedgehogs and otters. Improving conditions for toads – such as building water habitats, conserving woodland and installing amphibian passages – "we'll improve them for a whole bunch of additional wildlife."

Historical Significance

An additional motive to try to keep toads around is their "historical significance," adds an specialist. Legends and tales around toads date back {centuries|hundred