Can Britain's Common Toads Survive from Roads and Terrible Decline?

It is a Friday evening at half past seven, but rather than heading to the pub or watching a film, I've taken a train to a town in Wiltshire to meet up with volunteers from a amphibian rescue group. These dedicated individuals sacrifice their evenings to safeguard the local toad population.

An Alarming Drop in Numbers

The common toad is becoming increasingly rare. A recent research conducted by an amphibian and reptile charity revealed that the British common toad numbers have dropped by half since the mid-1980s. Seeing a creature that has been a stalwart 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 the majority of habitats in the UK," so 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 study didn't cover the causes for the drop, traffic certainly plays a part. Estimates suggest that 20 tons of toads are killed on UK roads every year – that is, hundreds of thousands. Unlike frogs, which might be content to mate "with just a bucket of water," toads prefer large ponds. Their ability to remain away from water for longer than frogs allows they can travel further to reach them – often hundreds of metres. They tend to follow their traditional paths – it's common for mature amphibians to return to their natal pond to mate.

Breeding 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 night 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 region 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 route happens to a road, they could all get run over, and that breeding season would be lost – stopping a new generation of toads from being born.

Rescue Groups Throughout the United Kingdom

Finding many of dead toads on nearby streets "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has resulted in the formation of rescue teams throughout the UK – hundreds of organizations are officially listed with a national initiative. These teams collect toads and transport them over streets in buckets, as well as counting the quantity of toads they find and lobbying for other protection measures, such as blocked roads and amphibian passages.

Patrols usually work during the migration season, when amphibian movements are more regular. However, this means they can miss numbers of young toads, which, having existed as eggs and then tadpoles, exit their ponds over an unpredictable schedule in late 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 killed, their carcasses can be counted.

Year-Round Efforts

Unlike many groups, one local team, who are in their eighth year of operating, go out year-round – not nightly, but whenever weather are warm and wet, or if a member has reported about a amphibian spotting in their group chat. When I ask to join them on patrol, they concede it is "not ideal conditions" – toad hibernation season has begun and it's been a arid period – but a few of the volunteers gamely agree to patrol their route with me and see what we can find. "If anyone can locate any toads tonight, that pair will find one," says the patrol manager, indicating her 14-year-old son and the longtime volunteer. We've been out for two hours without a single toad sighting, and now they have scaled a barbed wire fence to inspect beneath some logs.

Community Participation

The mother and son became part of the group a while back. The youngster loves all things nature-related and has an goal to become a environmentalist, so his parent started to look for things they could do jointly to protect local wildlife. Now she loves it as much as he does, the 41-year-old small business owner explains – so when the group was seeking a new manager recently, she volunteered for the role.

The teenager, too, has played an important role in the organization. A clip he created, urging the local council to block a street through a protected area during breeding time, influenced the outcome the group's way. After a year of lobbying, the council agreed to an "restricted access" rule between evening and morning from late winter through to spring. Most drivers duly avoided the route.

Additional Species and Difficulties

Several cars go by when I'm out on patrol and we discover some casualties as a result – no toads, but several crushed salamanders. We spot one live amphibian as well, and the teenager is particularly pleased to see a harvestman, which moves in his palms. Yet in spite of the team's best efforts to let me see a toad, the native community has clearly settled down for the winter. It appears that I wouldn't have had any better success anywhere else in the country – all the rescue teams I reach out to explain that it's very difficult at this season.

This team anticipates assisting around ten thousand mature toads over the street

One email I receive from another volunteer, who has kindly made the effort to check for toads in a famous site, considered the biggest tracked toad group in the UK, reaches me with the title: "No toads." However, in February and March, he tells me, the team plans to assist approximately 10,000 adult toads across the road.

Impact and Challenges

How much of a difference can these groups actually make? "The reality that volunteers are performing this consistently on chilly, wet and miserable late nights is remarkable," notes an expert. "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 vehicles is just one danger.

Other Dangers

The global warming has meant longer periods of dry weather, which create the wrong conditions for some of the creatures that toads consume, such as invertebrates, 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 frequently, interfering with the resource preservation crucial to their life cycle. Loss of environment – particularly the loss of large ponds – is another menace.

Researchers are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on biodiversity," but "There is a big value in just their presence." But toads play an important role in the food chain, consuming pretty much any invertebrates or small animals they can fit in their mouths and in turn feeding a number of predators, such as wildlife. Improving situations for toads – such as creating more ponds, protecting forests and constructing toad tunnels – "we'll improve them for a wide range of additional wildlife."

Historical Importance

Another reason to work to preserve toads around is their "historical significance," notes an specialist. Myths and folklore around toads date back {centuries|hundred