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

It's Friday evening at half past seven, but rather than heading to the pub or watching a film, I've taken a train to a market town in the countryside to join volunteers from a amphibian rescue group. These committed people give up their evenings to safeguard the local toad population.

An Alarming Decline in Population

The Bufo bufo is becoming increasingly rare. A recent research led by an amphibian and reptile charity showed that the British common toad numbers 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 require very particular environments" and "should be able to live successfully in most of habitats in Britain," so if even they are struggling to persist, "it kind of suggests that things are not as they should be."

The UK toad population has almost halved since 1985

The Danger from Roads

Though the research didn't examine the causes for the drop, traffic certainly plays a part. Calculations indicate that 20 tons of toads are killed on British roads every year – in other words, several hundred thousand. Unlike frogs, which would probably be happy to mate "if you left out a bucket of water," toads prefer big bodies of water. Their capacity to remain away from water for longer than frogs means they can journey farther to find them – sometimes long distances. They usually follow their ancestral migration routes – it's common for adult toads to return to their birth pond to mate.

Breeding Habits

Appropriately enough, the initial amphibians start their journey for a partner around February 14th, but others travel as far as spring, until it gets dark and moving after sunset. During that time, toads begin migrating from wherever they have been overwintering "almost simultaneously."

A local helper, who was raised in the region 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 road, they could all get run over, and that mating period would never happen – preventing a next generation of toads from being produced.

Rescue Groups Throughout the UK

Finding hundreds of dead toads on local roads "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has resulted in the creation of rescue teams across the UK – 274 groups are officially listed with a countrywide program. These teams collect toads and transport them over streets in buckets, as well as recording the quantity of toads they find and lobbying for other protection measures, such as road closures and amphibian passages.

Volunteers tend to operate during the breeding period, when amphibian movements are frequent. However, this implies they can miss numbers of young toads, which, having been spawn and then juveniles, leave their ponds over an irregular timetable in late summer. Because of their small stature – just one or two centimetres wide – "they are destroyed by car traffic." And as being run over "essentially crushes them," it's more difficult to get data on them. At least when adult toads are killed, their carcasses can be tallied.

Annual Work

In contrast to many groups, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth season of operating, go out year-round – not every night, but whenever conditions are damp, or if a member has reported about a toad sighting in their group chat. When I ask to join them on duty, they concede it is "not a toady night" – toad hibernation season has begun and it's been a arid period – but several of the volunteers gamely agree to patrol their area with me and see what we can find. "Should anyone can locate any toads tonight, those two will spot one," says the group coordinator, pointing to her 14-year-old son and the longtime volunteer. After for 120 minutes without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have scaled a wire barrier to inspect beneath some wood.

Community Participation

The mother and son became part of the patrol a year and a half ago. The teenager adores all things nature-related and has an goal to become a environmentalist, so his parent started to search for things they could do together to protect native animals. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the middle-aged small business owner explains – so when the team was seeking a new manager lately, she decided to step up.

The teenager, too, has played an important role in the organization. A clip he made, urging the local council to close a road through a nature reserve during migration season, influenced the outcome the group's way. After a twelve months of lobbying, the council agreed to an "restricted access" rule between 5pm and 5am from late winter through to April. The majority of motorists respected and avoided the route.

Additional Species and Challenges

A few cars go past when I'm out on patrol and we find some casualties as a consequence – no toads, but several crushed salamanders. We spot one living newt as well, and the teenager is particularly pleased to see a daddy longlegs, which dances in his hands. 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 wouldn't have had any more luck anywhere else in the country – all the patrol groups I reach out to 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 another volunteer, who has generously made the effort to check for toads in a famous site, thought to be the biggest tracked toad population in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the subject line: "None found." However, in February and March, he tells me, the team expects to help around ten thousand mature amphibians across the road.

Impact and Challenges

How much of a difference can these organizations truly achieve? "The reality that volunteers are performing this regularly on cold, damp and unpleasant late nights is quite extraordinary," says an expert. "This effort that very much should be celebrated." 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 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 increase of blue-green algae, which can be harmful to toads. Milder winters also lead toads to emerge from their dormancy more often, disrupting the energy conservation vital to their life cycle. Habitat destruction – particularly the disappearance of large ponds – is an additional threat.

Experts are "often concerned about overemphasizing practical benefits on wildlife," however "There is a big value in just their presence." But toads do have an important role in the food chain, eating pretty much any small creatures or tiny organisms they can swallow and in turn feeding a number of birds and mammals, such as hedgehogs and otters. Improving conditions for toads – such as creating more ponds, protecting forests and constructing amphibian passages – "benefits for a wide range of other species."

Historical Significance

Another reason to work to preserve toads present is their "historical significance," adds an specialist. Legends and tales around toads date back {centuries|hundred