Will the UK's Toads Survive from Traffic and Population Collapse?

It is a Friday evening at half past seven, but rather than going out or watching a film, I've caught a train to a town in Wiltshire to join volunteers from a amphibian rescue group. These committed people sacrifice their nights to protect the native amphibian community.

An Alarming Decline in Population

The Bufo bufo is becoming increasingly uncommon. A latest study conducted by an amphibian and reptile charity showed that the British common toad numbers have almost halved since 1985. Seeing a creature that has been a fixture of the UK landscape in decline is described as "worrying" by experts. Toads "don't need very specific conditions" and "should be able to live quite well in most of areas in Britain," meaning 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 Threat from Traffic

Though the research didn't cover the causes for the decline, cars is a major factor. Calculations suggest that 20 tons of toads are killed on British roads annually – in other words, several hundred thousand. Unlike frogs, which might be content to mate "with just a small container," toads favor large ponds. Their capacity to remain away from water for longer than frogs allows they can travel further to find them – often hundreds of metres. They usually stick to their ancestral migration routes – it's typical for adult toads to go back to their birth pond to mate.

Migration Habits

Appropriately enough, the first toads start their journey for a partner around February 14th, but some move as far as spring, waiting until it gets dark and moving after sunset. During that time, toads start moving from wherever they have been hibernating "all pretty much at the same time."

One volunteer, who grew up in the area and has been trying to protect its toad population since he was a child, 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 mating period would be lost – preventing a next generation of toads from being born.

Rescue Groups Throughout the UK

Seeing many of dead toads on nearby streets "resonates deeply with people," and has led to the formation of toad patrols across the UK – hundreds of organizations are currently registered with a countrywide program. These groups pick up toads and carry them over streets in buckets, as well as counting the number of toads they find and advocating for other safety solutions, such as road closures and amphibian passages.

Volunteers usually work during the migration season, when toad crossings are more regular. However, this implies they can miss numbers of toadlets, which, having existed as eggs and then juveniles, exit their ponds over an unpredictable schedule in the end of summer. Because of their size – just a couple of cm wide – "they can get obliterated by car traffic." And as being run over "essentially crushes them," it's more difficult to get data on them. At least when mature amphibians are lost, their remains can be counted.

Year-Round Efforts

Unlike most patrols, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth year of operating, go out year-round – not every night, but when weather are damp, or if someone has posted about a amphibian spotting in their messaging app. When I ask to join them on duty, they concede it is "not a toady night" – winter dormancy has started and it's been a arid period – but several of the helpers 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 find one," says the patrol manager, pointing to her teenage child and the longtime volunteer. We've been out for 120 minutes without a single toad sighting, and now they have climbed over a barbed wire fence to inspect beneath some logs.

Community Participation

The mother and son became part of the patrol a year and a half ago. The teenager adores all things wildlife and has an ambition to become a environmentalist, so his mother started to look for activities they could do jointly to help local wildlife. Now she loves it as much as he does, the middle-aged entrepreneur explains – so when the team was seeking a new manager recently, she volunteered for the role.

The youth, too, has played an important role in the organization. A video he made, imploring the local council to block a road through a protected area during migration season, influenced the outcome the group's way. After a year of lobbying, the authority approved an "restricted access" rule between 5pm and 5am from February through to April. Most drivers duly avoided the road.

Additional Species and Challenges

Several cars go by when I'm out on patrol and we discover some casualties as a consequence – no toads, but several crushed salamanders. We spot one living newt as well, and the youngster is particularly pleased to see a harvestman, which dances in his palms. Yet in spite of the team's hardest attempts to show me a toad, the local population has obviously gone dormant for the colder months. It seems that I couldn't have found any better success anywhere else in the country – all the patrol groups I contact clarify that it's near-impossible at this season.

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

A message I receive from another volunteer, who has generously taken the trouble to look for toads in a noted location, considered the biggest tracked toad population in the UK, reaches me with the subject line: "None found." However, in February and March, he tells me, the group expects to help approximately ten thousand mature amphibians over the street.

Impact and Limitations

What level of impact can these groups truly achieve? "The reality that volunteers are performing this consistently on chilly, wet and miserable evenings is remarkable," notes an expert. "This effort that very much should be celebrated." However, while toad patrols are able to reduce the drop, they cannot prevent it entirely – not least because traffic is not the only threat.

Other Dangers

The global warming has resulted in longer periods of drought, which cause the poor environment for some of the animals that toads eat, such as worms and slugs, while warmer ponds have caused an increase of blue-green algae, which can be harmful to toads. Warmer cold seasons also cause toads to wake up from their hibernation more frequently, disrupting the energy conservation crucial to their life cycle. Habitat destruction – particularly the loss of big water bodies – is an additional threat.

Researchers are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on wildlife," however "There is a big value in just having these animals around." But toads play an important role in the ecosystem, eating almost any invertebrates or tiny organisms they can fit in their mouths and in turn sustaining a variety of birds and mammals, such as wildlife. Enhancing conditions for toads – such as creating more ponds, protecting forests and constructing toad tunnels – "we'll improve them for a whole bunch of additional wildlife."

Cultural Significance

Another reason to try to keep toads present is their "historical significance," adds an expert. Myths and folklore around toads go back {centuries|hundred