Can the UK's Common Toads Survive from Roads and Terrible Decline?

It's a Friday evening at half past seven, but instead of going out or watching a film, I've caught a train to a town in the countryside to join volunteers from a toad patrol. These dedicated individuals give up their nights to protect the native amphibian community.

An Alarming Drop in Numbers

The common toad is growing more uncommon. A recent study conducted by an amphibian and reptile charity revealed that the British common toad numbers have dropped by half since the mid-1980s. Observing a creature that has been a stalwart of the UK landscape in decline is described as "worrying" by experts. Toads "don't need very particular environments" and "ought to live quite well in most of areas in Britain," so 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 Danger from Roads

Though the research didn't cover the causes for the decline, traffic certainly plays a part. Calculations suggest that 20 tons of toads are killed on British roads annually – that is, several hundred thousand. In contrast to frogs, which might be content to mate "if you left out a bucket of water," toads prefer large ponds. Their ability to stay out of water for more time than frogs means they can journey farther to find them – often long distances. They usually follow their traditional paths – it's typical for mature amphibians to return to their birth pond to mate.

Migration Patterns

Fittingly, the first toads start their journey for a mate around Valentine's day, but some move as far 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."

A local helper, who grew up in the region and has been working to save its amphibians since he was a child, notes that "Their sole purpose: to go and mate." If their route crosses a street, they could all get run over, and that mating period would never happen – stopping a next generation of toads from being born.

Toad Patrols Throughout the UK

Finding many of toad carcasses on nearby streets "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has led to the formation of rescue teams across the UK – hundreds of organizations are officially listed with a national initiative. These teams collect toads and transport them across roads in containers, as well as recording the quantity of toads they find and lobbying for other safety solutions, such as road closures and amphibian passages.

Volunteers usually work during the migration season, when amphibian movements are frequent. However, this means they can miss groups of young toads, which, having existed as eggs and then juveniles, leave their water habitats over an unpredictable schedule in late summer. Because of their size – just one or two centimetres wide – "they are destroyed by car traffic." And as being run over "essentially crushes them," it's harder to collect information on them. At least when mature amphibians are lost, their carcasses can be tallied.

Annual Efforts

Unlike many groups, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth season of operating, go out year-round – not nightly, but when conditions are damp, or if someone has posted about a toad sighting in their messaging app. When I ask to join them on duty, they admit it is "not ideal conditions" – winter dormancy has begun and it's been a dry day – but several of the volunteers willingly accept to patrol their route with me and see what we can find. "Should anyone can find any toads tonight, that pair will find one," says the patrol manager, indicating her 14-year-old son and the longtime volunteer. After for two hours without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have scaled a wire barrier to inspect beneath some wood.

Community Participation

The family duo joined the patrol a while back. The youngster adores all things nature-related and has an ambition to become a conservationist, so his parent started to search for activities they could do together to protect local wildlife. Now she loves it as much as he does, the middle-aged small business owner tells me – so when the team was seeking a fresh coordinator recently, she volunteered for the role.

The youth, too, has played an important role in the organization. A clip he created, urging the local council to close a road through a nature reserve during breeding time, influenced the outcome the team's way. After a twelve months of campaigning, the authority agreed to an "restricted access" restriction between evening and morning from late winter through to April. The majority of motorists duly avoided the route.

Other Wildlife and Challenges

A few cars go by when I'm out on patrol and we discover some victims as a consequence – no amphibians, but three squashed newts. We see one living newt as well, and the youngster is especially excited to see a harvestman, which dances in his palms. Yet despite the group's hardest attempts to show me a toad, the native community has obviously gone dormant for the colder months. It appears that I wouldn't have had any more luck anywhere else 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 get from another volunteer, who has kindly taken the trouble to look for toads in a famous site, considered the largest accurately monitored toad population in the UK, reaches me with the subject line: "None found." However, in late winter, he tells me, the team expects to help around ten thousand mature amphibians over the street.

Effectiveness and Limitations

What level of impact can these organizations actually make? "The reality that volunteers are doing this consistently on cold, damp and unpleasant late nights is quite extraordinary," notes an researcher. "This effort that very much should be celebrated." However, while rescue teams are able to slow the decline, they cannot prevent it entirely – not least because vehicles is not the only threat.

Other Dangers

The global warming has resulted in extended spells of dry weather, which create the wrong conditions for some of the creatures that toads consume, such as worms and slugs, while warmer ponds have caused an rise of toxic plants, which can be harmful to toads. Warmer cold seasons also lead toads to wake up from their dormancy more often, interfering with the energy conservation vital to their life cycle. Loss of environment – especially the loss of large ponds – is another menace.

Experts are "always a bit worried about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on wildlife," but "It's important in just having these animals around." But toads play an important role in the ecosystem, eating almost any small creatures or small animals they can fit in their mouths and in turn feeding a number of predators, such as hedgehogs and otters. Improving situations for toads – ie creating more ponds, conserving woodland and constructing toad tunnels – "we'll improve them for a whole bunch of additional wildlife."

Historical Significance

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