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

It is a Friday evening at half past seven, but instead of heading to the pub or relaxing at home, I've caught a train to a 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 Decline in Population

The common toad is growing more rare. A recent study led by an amphibian and reptile charity showed that the British common toad numbers have dropped by half since the mid-1980s. Seeing a creature that has been a fixture of the British countryside in decline is labeled "worrying" by experts. Toads "don't require very particular environments" and "should be able to live successfully in most of habitats in Britain," meaning if even they are not managing to survive, "it kind of suggests that the ecosystem is unbalanced."

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

The Threat from Traffic

Though the research didn't cover the causes for the decline, cars certainly plays a part. Estimates suggest that 20 tonnes of toads are crushed on British roads annually – that is, hundreds of thousands. In contrast to frogs, which might be happy to mate "with just a small container," toads favor large ponds. Their ability to stay out of water for longer than frogs allows they can journey farther to find them – sometimes long distances. They tend to follow their traditional paths – it's common for adult toads to go back to their birth pond to mate.

Breeding Habits

Appropriately enough, the initial amphibians start their journey for a mate around February 14th, but others travel as far as April, until it gets dark and travelling through the night. During that period, toads start moving from where they have been hibernating "almost simultaneously."

One volunteer, who grew up in the region and has been trying to protect its amphibians since he was a boy, notes that "They've got just one focus: to go and mate." If their path crosses a road, they could all get run over, and that breeding season would never happen – preventing a new generation of toads from being produced.

Toad Patrols Throughout the UK

Seeing hundreds of toad carcasses on nearby streets "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has led to the creation of rescue teams throughout the UK – 274 groups are currently registered with a countrywide program. These groups pick up toads and carry them over streets in containers, as well as recording the quantity of toads they find and advocating for other protection measures, such as blocked roads and underground wildlife tunnels.

Volunteers tend to operate during the breeding period, when amphibian movements are more regular. However, this means they can overlook numbers of young toads, which, having existed as spawn and then tadpoles, exit their water habitats over an irregular timetable in late summer. Because of their size – just a couple of cm wide – "they can get obliterated by car traffic." And as being run over "basically turns them into mush," it's harder to collect information on them. At least when adult toads are lost, their remains can be tallied.

Year-Round Efforts

In contrast to most patrols, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth year of functioning, go out year-round – not every night, but when weather are damp, or if a member has posted about a toad sighting in their group chat. When I ask to join them on patrol, they concede it is "not a toady night" – winter dormancy has started and it's been a arid period – but a few of the helpers willingly accept to patrol their area with me and search for any toads. "Should anyone can find 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 120 minutes without a single toad sighting, and now they have climbed over a wire barrier to check under some logs.

Family Participation

The family duo became part of the group a while back. The teenager adores all things nature-related and has an goal to become a conservationist, so his parent started to search for things they could do together to protect local wildlife. Now she loves it as much as he does, the middle-aged small business owner explains – so when the group was seeking a new manager lately, she volunteered for the role.

The teenager, too, has been instrumental in the organization. A video he made, urging the municipal authority to close a street through a protected area during migration season, influenced the outcome the group's way. After a twelve months of lobbying, the council agreed to an "restricted access" restriction between evening and morning from late winter through to April. The majority of motorists duly avoided the route.

Additional Species and Challenges

Several cars go by when I'm out on duty and we discover some victims as a consequence – no toads, but several crushed salamanders. We see one live amphibian as well, and the youngster is particularly pleased to see a harvestman, which dances in his palms. Yet despite the group's best efforts to let me see a toad, the local population 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 contact explain that it's near-impossible at this season.

The group expects to help approximately 10,000 adult toads across the road

One email I get from a different helper, who has generously made the effort to look for toads in a noted location, thought to be the biggest tracked toad population in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the title: "No toads." However, in late winter, he informs me, the team expects to help approximately ten thousand adult toads over the street.

Impact and Limitations

What level of impact can these organizations actually make? "The reality that people are doing this regularly on cold, damp and unpleasant evenings is remarkable," notes an expert. "That's something that very much should be celebrated." However, while rescue teams are able to reduce the drop, they can't stop it completely – partly since vehicles is not the only threat.

Additional Threats

The climate crisis has meant extended spells of dry weather, which create the wrong conditions 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 often, interfering with the energy conservation vital to their existence. Habitat destruction – especially the disappearance of large ponds – is an additional threat.

Researchers are "often concerned about overemphasizing practical benefits on biodiversity," however "There is a big value in just having these animals around." But toads do have an important role in the ecosystem, eating almost any small creatures or tiny organisms they can swallow and in turn sustaining a number of birds and mammals, such as wildlife. Improving situations for toads – ie building water habitats, conserving woodland and constructing amphibian passages – "benefits for a whole bunch of additional wildlife."

Historical Significance

An additional motive to work to preserve toads present is their "historical significance," adds an expert. Legends and tales around toads go back {centuries|hundred