Can the UK's Common Toads Survive from Roads and Population Collapse?

It is Friday night at half past seven, but rather than heading to the pub or relaxing at home, I've caught a train to a market town in Wiltshire to join volunteers from a amphibian rescue group. These dedicated individuals sacrifice their evenings to safeguard the native amphibian community.

An Alarming Decline in Numbers

The Bufo bufo is becoming increasingly rare. A recent study led by an wildlife conservation group showed that the UK toad population have dropped by half since 1985. Seeing a creature that has been a fixture of the UK landscape in decline is labeled "worrying" by experts. Toads "don't require very particular environments" and "should be able to live successfully in the majority of habitats in the UK," meaning if even they are not managing to survive, "it indicates that the ecosystem is unbalanced."

The UK toad population has almost halved since 1985

The Danger from Traffic

Though the research didn't cover the causes for the drop, traffic is a major factor. Calculations indicate that 20 tonnes of toads are killed on British roads annually – that is, several hundred thousand. Unlike frogs, which would probably be happy to mate "if you left out a bucket of water," toads favor big bodies of water. Their ability to remain away from water for more time than frogs allows they can travel further to reach them – often hundreds of metres. They usually stick to their ancestral migration routes – it's typical for adult toads to go back to their natal pond to mate.

Breeding Habits

Appropriately enough, the first toads start their journey for a mate around Valentine's day, but some move as late as April, until it gets dark and moving after sunset. During that period, toads begin migrating from wherever they have been hibernating "almost simultaneously."

One volunteer, who was raised in the region and has been trying to protect its amphibians since he was a child, explains that "Their sole purpose: to go and have an orgy." If their path happens to a street, they could all get run over, and that breeding season would be lost – preventing a next generation of toads from being born.

Toad Patrols Across the UK

Seeing hundreds of toad carcasses on local roads "resonates deeply with people," and has led to the creation of rescue teams across the UK – 274 groups are currently registered with a countrywide program. These groups pick up toads and carry them across roads in buckets, as well as counting the number of toads they encounter and lobbying for other safety solutions, such as blocked roads and amphibian passages.

Patrols tend to operate during the migration season, when toad crossings are more regular. However, this means they can miss groups of young toads, which, having been spawn and then tadpoles, exit their ponds over an unpredictable schedule in late summer. Because of their small stature – just one or two centimetres wide – "they can get obliterated by car traffic." And as being hit "basically turns them into mush," it's harder to collect information on them. At least when adult toads are killed, their carcasses can be counted.

Year-Round Work

Unlike many groups, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth season of operating, 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 group chat. When I ask to join them on patrol, they concede it is "not a toady night" – toad hibernation season has begun and it's been a arid period – but a few of the helpers willingly accept to patrol their route with me and search for any toads. "If anyone can find any toads tonight, that pair will spot one," says the group coordinator, pointing to her 14-year-old son and the experienced member. We've been out for 120 minutes without a single toad sighting, and now they have scaled a wire barrier to check under some logs.

Community Involvement

The mother and son became part of the group a while back. The youngster adores all things nature-related and has an goal to become a environmentalist, so his mother started to look for activities they could do jointly to help native animals. 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 recently, she decided to step up.

The youth, too, has been instrumental in the organization. A clip he created, urging the local council to close a road through a protected area during breeding time, influenced the outcome the group's way. After a twelve months of lobbying, the authority approved an "restricted access" rule between 5pm and 5am from late winter through to spring. Most drivers duly avoided the road.

Additional Species and Challenges

Several cars go past when I'm out on duty and we find some casualties as a result – no amphibians, but several crushed salamanders. We see one living newt as well, and the teenager is especially excited to see a daddy longlegs, which dances in his palms. Yet in spite of the team's best efforts to let me see a toad, the native community has obviously settled down for the colder months. It seems that I wouldn't have had any better success anywhere else in the nation – 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 another volunteer, who has kindly taken the trouble to look for toads in a famous site, considered the biggest tracked toad population in the UK, reaches me with the subject line: "None found." 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 late nights is remarkable," says an researcher. "That's something that very much deserves recognition." However, while rescue teams are able to slow the decline, they can't stop it completely – not least because vehicles is just one danger.

Additional Threats

The climate crisis has meant extended spells of drought, which create the wrong conditions for some of the animals that toads eat, such as worms and slugs, while higher water temperatures have led to an rise of toxic plants, which can be harmful to toads. Milder winters also lead toads to emerge from their hibernation more frequently, interfering with the energy conservation vital to their existence. Loss of environment – particularly the loss of large ponds – is an additional threat.

Experts are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on biodiversity," but "There is a big value in just their presence." But toads do have an important role in the food chain, eating almost any small creatures or tiny organisms they can fit in their mouths and in turn feeding a variety of birds and mammals, such as hedgehogs and otters. Improving conditions for toads – ie creating more ponds, protecting forests and constructing toad tunnels – "benefits for a whole bunch of other species."

Historical Importance

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