🔗 Share this article

It is Friday night at 7:30, but rather than going out or relaxing at home, I've taken a train to a town in Wiltshire to meet up with volunteers from a amphibian rescue group. These dedicated individuals give up their nights to protect the native amphibian community.

An Alarming Drop in Population

The Bufo bufo is growing more uncommon. A latest study led by an amphibian and reptile charity showed that the UK toad population have dropped by half since 1985. Seeing a species that has been a stalwart of the British countryside in decline is described as "worrying" by researchers. Toads "don't need very specific conditions" 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 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 Roads

Though the research didn't cover the reasons for the drop, cars is a major factor. Calculations indicate that 20 tons of toads are crushed on UK roads every year – that is, several hundred thousand. In contrast to frogs, which would probably be happy to mate "with just a small container," toads prefer large ponds. Their capacity to stay out of water for longer than frogs allows they can travel further to reach them – sometimes hundreds of metres. They tend to stick to their traditional paths – it's typical for adult toads to go back to their birth pond to mate.

Breeding Habits

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

A local helper, who was raised in the area and has been trying to protect its amphibians since he was a boy, notes that "Their sole purpose: to go and have an orgy." If their path happens to a street, they could be killed by traffic, and that breeding season would be lost – stopping a next generation of toads from being born.

Rescue Groups Across the United Kingdom

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

Volunteers usually work during the breeding period, when amphibian movements are frequent. However, this means they can miss groups of young toads, which, having been spawn and then tadpoles, exit their water habitats over an unpredictable schedule in the end of 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 more difficult to get data on them. At least when mature amphibians are lost, their remains can be tallied.

Annual Work

Unlike many groups, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth season of functioning, go out throughout the year – not nightly, but when conditions are damp, or if a member has reported about a toad sighting in their messaging app. When I ask to join them on duty, they concede it is "not a toady night" – winter dormancy has begun and it's been a dry day – but several of the helpers gamely agree to patrol their area with me and search for any toads. "If anyone can locate any toads tonight, that pair will spot one," says the group coordinator, pointing to 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 check under some logs.

Family Participation

The mother and son became part of the patrol a year and a half ago. The youngster adores all things nature-related and has an goal to become a environmentalist, so his parent started to look for activities they could do jointly to protect 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 fresh coordinator lately, she decided to step up.

The teenager, too, has been instrumental in the group. A video he made, urging the local council to block 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 February through to spring. Most drivers respected and avoided the road.

Other Wildlife and Challenges

Several cars go by when I'm out on duty and we discover some victims as a result – no amphibians, but three squashed newts. We see one living newt as well, and the teenager is especially excited to see a harvestman, which moves in his palms. Yet despite the team's best efforts to show me a toad, the native community has obviously settled down for the winter. It seems that I wouldn't have had any better success anywhere else in the country – all the patrol groups I reach out to explain that it's near-impossible at this season.

They project rescuing nearly 10,000 grown amphibians during migration

A message I receive from another volunteer, who has kindly made the effort to check for toads in a famous site, considered the largest accurately monitored toad group in the UK, reaches me with the title: "None found." However, in February and March, he tells me, the group expects to help around ten thousand mature amphibians over the street.

Impact and Challenges

How much of a difference can these groups actually make? "The reality that people are doing this regularly on chilly, wet and miserable late nights is quite extraordinary," notes an researcher. "That's something that very much deserves recognition." However, while rescue teams are able to reduce the drop, they cannot prevent it entirely – partly since traffic is just one danger.

Additional Threats

The climate crisis has meant extended spells of drought, which cause 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 toxic to toads. Warmer cold seasons also cause toads to wake up from their hibernation more often, disrupting the energy conservation crucial to their existence. Loss of environment – particularly the loss of large ponds – is another menace.

Researchers are "often concerned about overemphasizing practical benefits on wildlife," however "It's important in just their presence." But toads do have an significant part in the food chain, consuming pretty much any small creatures or tiny organisms they can swallow and in turn sustaining a number of birds and mammals, such as hedgehogs and otters. Enhancing conditions for toads – ie creating more ponds, protecting forests and installing toad tunnels – "we'll improve them for a wide range of additional wildlife."

Historical Significance

Another reason to try to keep toads around is their "important cultural value," adds an expert. Legends and tales around toads go back {centuries|hundred