🔗 Share this article

It's Friday night at half past seven, but rather than going out or watching a film, I've caught a train to a market town in the countryside to join local helpers from a amphibian rescue group. These committed people sacrifice their evenings to protect the native amphibian community.

A Worrying Decline in Population

The common toad is growing more rare. A recent research led by an amphibian and reptile charity revealed that the UK toad population have dropped by half since 1985. Observing a creature that has been a fixture of the British countryside in decline is described as "worrying" by researchers. Toads "don't need very particular environments" and "ought 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 things are not as they should be."

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

The Danger from Traffic

Though the research didn't cover the reasons for the decline, traffic is a major factor. Calculations indicate that 20 tonnes of toads are crushed on British roads every year – that is, hundreds of thousands. Unlike frogs, which might be happy to mate "if you left out a bucket of water," toads prefer large ponds. Their capacity to remain away from water for more time than frogs allows they can travel further to find them – often hundreds of metres. They usually stick to their ancestral migration routes – it's common for mature amphibians to return to their natal pond to mate.

Migration Habits

Appropriately enough, the initial amphibians begin their quest for a mate around Valentine's day, but some move as far as April, until it gets night and travelling after sunset. During that period, toads start moving from wherever they have been hibernating "all pretty much at the same time."

A local helper, who grew up in the region and has been trying to protect its toad population since he was a child, notes that "Their sole purpose: to go and have an orgy." If their route 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 produced.

Toad Patrols Throughout the United Kingdom

Finding hundreds of toad carcasses on local roads "resonates deeply with people," and has resulted in the creation of rescue teams across the UK – hundreds of organizations are currently registered with a countrywide program. These teams pick up toads and transport them across roads in buckets, as well as counting the quantity of toads they find and lobbying for other protection measures, such as road closures and underground wildlife tunnels.

Volunteers tend to operate during the breeding period, when amphibian movements are frequent. However, this means they can miss groups of toadlets, which, having existed as spawn and then tadpoles, leave their ponds over an unpredictable schedule in the end of summer. Because of their size – just one or two centimetres wide – "they can get obliterated by car traffic." And as being hit "essentially crushes them," it's harder to collect information on them. At least when mature amphibians are lost, their remains can be counted.

Annual Efforts

Unlike most patrols, one local team, who are in their eighth season of functioning, go out year-round – not every night, but when weather are warm and wet, or if someone has posted about a amphibian spotting in their group chat. When I ask to join them on duty, they concede it is "not a toady night" – toad hibernation season has started and it's been a dry day – but a few of the volunteers willingly accept to walk up and down their route with me and see what we can find. "Should anyone can locate any toads tonight, that pair will spot one," says the patrol manager, indicating her teenage child and the experienced member. We've been out for two hours without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have scaled a wire barrier to inspect beneath some wood.

Family Participation

The mother and son became part of the patrol a while back. The youngster loves all things nature-related and has an ambition to become a environmentalist, so his mother started to search for things they could do together to protect local wildlife. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the middle-aged entrepreneur explains – so when the group was seeking a new manager lately, she decided to step up.

The teenager, too, has been instrumental in the group. A clip he created, imploring the local council to close a street through a protected area during migration season, influenced the outcome the team's way. After a year of lobbying, the authority approved an "restricted access" restriction between 5pm and 5am from February through to April. Most drivers respected and avoided the route.

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 see one living newt as well, and the teenager is particularly pleased to see a harvestman, which dances in his hands. Yet in spite of the group's hardest attempts to show me a toad, the native community has obviously settled down for the colder months. It seems that I couldn't have found any better success elsewhere in the country – all the rescue teams I reach out to clarify that it's very difficult 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 generously taken the trouble to look for toads in a famous site, considered the largest accurately monitored toad group in the UK, reaches me with the title: "No toads." However, in February and March, he tells me, the group expects to help approximately ten thousand adult toads across the road.

Impact and Limitations

How much of a difference can these groups truly achieve? "The fact that people are doing this consistently on cold, damp and unpleasant evenings is remarkable," says an researcher. "That's something that very much should be celebrated." However, while rescue teams are able to reduce the drop, they cannot prevent it entirely – partly since vehicles is just one danger.

Other Dangers

The global warming has meant extended spells of drought, which cause the wrong conditions for some of the creatures that toads consume, 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 hibernation more frequently, interfering with the resource preservation crucial to their existence. Loss of environment – especially the loss of large ponds – is another menace.

Researchers are "always a bit worried about overemphasizing practical benefits on wildlife," however "It's important in just having these animals around." But toads play an important role in the food chain, consuming pretty much any invertebrates or tiny organisms they can swallow and in turn sustaining a variety of predators, such as wildlife. Improving 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 try to keep toads present is their "important cultural value," adds an expert. Legends and tales around toads date back {centuries|hundred