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It is Friday evening at 7:30, 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 local helpers from a amphibian rescue group. These dedicated individuals give up their evenings to protect the native amphibian community.

An Alarming Decline in Numbers

The Bufo bufo is becoming increasingly rare. A latest study conducted by an wildlife conservation group showed that the UK toad population have dropped by half since 1985. Observing a species that has been a fixture of the UK landscape in decrease is described as "worrying" by experts. Toads "don't need very specific conditions" and "ought to live successfully in the majority of areas in the UK," so if even they are struggling to persist, "it indicates 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 decline, traffic certainly plays a part. Calculations suggest that 20 tonnes of toads are crushed on British roads every year – in other words, hundreds of thousands. In contrast to frogs, which would probably be happy to mate "if you left out a bucket of water," toads prefer large ponds. Their ability to stay out of water for more time than frogs allows they can travel further to find them – sometimes hundreds of metres. They tend to follow their ancestral migration routes – it's common for mature amphibians to return to their birth pond to mate.

Migration Habits

Appropriately enough, the first toads start their journey for a mate around February 14th, but some move as far as April, until it gets night and moving after sunset. During that period, toads begin migrating from where they have been hibernating "all pretty much at the same time."

One volunteer, who was raised in the region and has been working to save its amphibians since he was a boy, explains that "They've got just one focus: to go and mate." If their route happens to a road, they could be killed by traffic, and that mating period would be lost – preventing a new generation of toads from being born.

Toad Patrols Throughout the United Kingdom

Seeing many of dead toads on local roads "resonates deeply with people," and has led to the creation of toad patrols across the UK – hundreds of organizations are officially listed with a countrywide program. These teams collect toads and transport them across roads in buckets, as well as counting the number of toads they encounter and advocating for other safety solutions, such as road closures and amphibian passages.

Patrols usually work during the migration season, when amphibian movements are frequent. However, this implies they can overlook groups of toadlets, which, having been eggs and then juveniles, leave their water habitats 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 hit "basically turns them into mush," it's harder to collect information on them. At least when mature amphibians are killed, their carcasses can be counted.

Year-Round Efforts

Unlike many groups, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth season of functioning, go out year-round – not nightly, but when conditions are damp, or if someone has posted about a toad sighting in their messaging app. When I ask to join them on duty, they admit it is "not a toady night" – winter dormancy has started and it's been a arid period – but a few of the volunteers willingly accept to walk up and down their route with me and search for any toads. "Should anyone can find any toads tonight, that pair will find one," says the group coordinator, indicating her teenage child and the longtime volunteer. We've been out for two hours without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have scaled a wire barrier to check under some wood.

Community Participation

The mother and son became part of the patrol a while back. The teenager loves all things wildlife and has an goal to become a conservationist, so his parent started to look for things they could do together to protect local wildlife. Now she loves it as much as he does, the middle-aged entrepreneur explains – so when the team was looking for a fresh coordinator recently, she decided to step up.

The teenager, too, has been instrumental in the group. A clip he made, imploring the municipal authority to close a street through a protected area during migration season, swung the decision the group's way. After a twelve months of lobbying, the council agreed to an "access-only" restriction between evening and morning from February through to spring. The majority of motorists duly avoided the road.

Additional Species and Difficulties

Several vehicles go past when I'm out on duty and we find some casualties as a consequence – no toads, but several crushed salamanders. We see one living newt as well, and the youngster is especially excited to see a harvestman, which moves in his hands. Yet in spite of the team's hardest attempts 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 elsewhere in the country – all the patrol groups I reach out to explain that it's near-impossible at this time of year.

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

A message I receive from a different helper, who has kindly made the effort to look for toads in a noted location, considered the biggest tracked toad population in the UK, reaches me with the subject line: "No toads." However, in late winter, he informs me, the group expects to help approximately 10,000 adult toads over the street.

Impact and Limitations

What level of impact can these organizations actually make? "The reality that volunteers are performing this regularly on chilly, wet and miserable evenings is quite extraordinary," says an researcher. "That's something that very much deserves recognition." However, while rescue teams are able to reduce the drop, they can't stop it completely – not least because vehicles is just one danger.

Additional Threats

The climate crisis has resulted in extended spells of dry weather, which cause the poor environment for some of the animals that toads consume, such as worms and slugs, 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 frequently, interfering with the resource preservation crucial to their life cycle. Loss of environment – especially the loss of large ponds – is an additional threat.

Researchers are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on wildlife," however "It's important in just their presence." But toads do have an significant part in the ecosystem, eating almost any invertebrates or tiny organisms they can swallow and in turn sustaining a variety of predators, such as hedgehogs and otters. Improving situations for toads – such as creating more ponds, protecting forests and installing amphibian passages – "benefits for a wide range of additional wildlife."

Historical Significance

Another reason to try to keep toads around is their "important cultural value," adds an expert. Legends and tales around toads go back {centuries|hundred