Can Britain's Toads Survive from Traffic and Population Collapse?

It is Friday night at 7:30, but rather than going out 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 committed people give up their nights to protect the native amphibian community.

An Alarming Drop in Numbers

The Bufo bufo is growing more rare. A latest research led by an wildlife conservation group showed that the UK toad population have dropped by half since the mid-1980s. Observing a species that has been a fixture of the British countryside in decrease is labeled "worrying" by researchers. Toads "don't require very particular environments" and "should be able to live quite well in most of areas in Britain," so if even they are not managing to survive, "it kind of suggests that the ecosystem is unbalanced."

The UK toad population has almost halved since 1985

The Threat from Traffic

Though the study didn't examine the reasons for the drop, cars certainly plays a part. Estimates indicate that 20 tons of toads are crushed on UK roads every year – in other words, several hundred thousand. In contrast to frogs, which might be happy to mate "with just a bucket of water," toads favor large ponds. Their capacity to remain away from water for longer than frogs means they can journey farther to find them – often hundreds of metres. They usually follow their traditional paths – it's common for mature amphibians to go back to their natal pond to mate.

Migration Patterns

Fittingly, the first toads start their journey for a partner around Valentine's day, but some move as far as spring, waiting until it gets night and moving through the night. During that period, toads start moving from where they have been hibernating "all pretty much at the same time."

One volunteer, who was raised in the area and has been working to save its toad population since he was a child, notes that "Their sole purpose: to go and mate." If their route crosses a street, they could all get run over, and that mating period would be lost – stopping a new generation of toads from being born.

Toad Patrols Throughout the UK

Finding hundreds of toad carcasses on nearby streets "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has led to the creation of rescue teams across the UK – 274 groups are currently registered with a national initiative. These teams collect toads and transport them over streets in buckets, as well as counting the number of toads they find and lobbying for other protection measures, such as blocked roads and amphibian passages.

Volunteers usually work during the migration season, when amphibian movements are frequent. However, this implies they can overlook groups of young toads, which, having been eggs and then tadpoles, exit their water habitats over an unpredictable schedule in late summer. Because of their small stature – just a couple of cm wide – "they are destroyed by car traffic." And as being run over "essentially crushes them," it's more difficult to collect information on them. At least when adult toads are killed, their remains can be counted.

Year-Round Work

Unlike many groups, one local team, who are in their eighth season of operating, go out throughout the year – not every night, but whenever weather are damp, or if a member has posted about a amphibian spotting in their group chat. When I ask to join them on duty, they admit it is "not a toady night" – toad hibernation season has started and it's been a dry day – but a few of the helpers gamely agree to patrol their route with me and see what we can find. "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. After for 120 minutes without a single toad sighting, and now they have climbed over a wire barrier to check under some wood.

Family Participation

The family duo became part of the group a year and a half ago. The youngster loves all things wildlife and has an ambition to become a environmentalist, so his mother started to look for things they could do together to help local wildlife. Now she loves it as much as he does, the 41-year-old small business owner explains – so when the team was seeking a fresh coordinator recently, she volunteered for the role.

The teenager, too, has played an important role in the organization. A video he created, urging the municipal authority to block a street through a nature reserve during breeding time, swung the decision the team's way. After a twelve months of lobbying, the authority approved an "restricted access" rule between 5pm and 5am from February through to April. The majority of motorists respected and avoided the road.

Other Wildlife and Challenges

A few vehicles go past when I'm out on duty and we find some casualties as a result – no toads, but three squashed newts. We see one live amphibian as well, and the youngster is especially excited to see a daddy longlegs, which dances in his hands. Yet in spite of the group's best efforts to show me a toad, the native community has obviously gone dormant for the winter. It appears that I couldn't have found any more luck anywhere else in the country – all the patrol groups I reach out to explain that it's very difficult at this time of year.

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

One email I receive from another volunteer, who has kindly made the effort to check for toads in a famous site, thought to be the largest accurately monitored toad group in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the subject line: "None found." However, in late winter, he tells me, the group expects to help approximately ten thousand adult toads over the street.

Impact and Challenges

How much of a difference can these organizations actually make? "The fact that people are doing this consistently on chilly, wet and miserable evenings is remarkable," notes an researcher. "This effort that very much deserves recognition." However, while toad patrols are able to slow the decline, they cannot prevent it entirely – not least because traffic is not the only threat.

Additional Threats

The climate crisis has resulted in extended spells of drought, which cause the wrong conditions for some of the creatures that toads eat, such as invertebrates, while higher water temperatures have led to an rise of blue-green algae, which can be harmful to toads. Warmer cold seasons also cause toads to wake up from their dormancy more often, interfering with the resource preservation vital to their existence. Loss of environment – particularly the disappearance of big water bodies – is an additional threat.

Researchers are "often concerned about overemphasizing practical benefits on biodiversity," however "There is a big value in just their presence." But toads play an significant part in the ecosystem, eating almost any small creatures or tiny organisms they can fit in their mouths and in turn sustaining a number of birds and mammals, such as wildlife. Enhancing conditions for toads – ie building water habitats, conserving woodland and installing amphibian passages – "benefits for a wide range of other species."

Cultural Significance

An additional motive to work to preserve toads present is their "important cultural value," notes an specialist. Myths and folklore around toads date back {centuries|hundred