Can the UK's Common Toads Survive from Traffic and Population Collapse?
It's a Friday evening at half past seven, but instead of going out or watching a film, I've taken a train to a market town in the countryside to meet up with volunteers from a amphibian rescue group. These committed people give up their nights to safeguard the native amphibian community.
An Alarming Decline in Population
The Bufo bufo is growing more uncommon. A recent research conducted by an wildlife conservation group revealed that the UK toad population have almost halved since 1985. Observing a species that has been a fixture of the UK landscape in decrease is described as "concerning" by researchers. Toads "don't require very specific conditions" and "ought to live quite well in most of habitats in the UK," meaning if even they are struggling to persist, "it indicates that the ecosystem is unbalanced."
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 drop, traffic certainly plays a part. Estimates indicate that 20 tons of toads are killed on UK roads annually – in other words, several hundred thousand. In contrast to frogs, which might be happy to mate "if you left out a small container," toads favor big bodies of water. Their capacity to remain away from water for more time than frogs allows they can travel further to reach them – often hundreds of metres. They tend to stick to their traditional paths – it's common for adult toads to go back to their birth pond to mate.
Breeding Patterns
Appropriately enough, the first toads start their journey for a partner around February 14th, but others travel as far as April, until it gets night and travelling after sunset. During that time, toads start moving from wherever they have been overwintering "almost simultaneously."
A local helper, 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 path crosses a road, they could be killed by traffic, and that mating period would never happen – stopping a new generation of toads from being born.
Toad Patrols Throughout the UK
Finding hundreds of dead toads on nearby streets "resonates deeply with people," and has led to the formation of toad patrols throughout the UK – hundreds of organizations are officially listed with a countrywide program. These teams pick up toads and transport them over streets in buckets, as well as recording the number of toads they encounter and lobbying for other protection measures, such as road closures and amphibian passages.
Patrols tend to operate during the breeding period, when amphibian movements are more regular. However, this implies they can overlook numbers of toadlets, which, having been spawn and then juveniles, exit their water habitats over an irregular timetable in the end of summer. Because of their size – just one or two centimetres wide – "they can get obliterated by car traffic." And as being run over "essentially crushes them," it's more difficult to collect information on them. At least when mature amphibians are killed, their carcasses can be counted.
Annual 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 warm and wet, or if someone has reported about a amphibian spotting in their messaging app. When I ask to join them on duty, they admit it is "not ideal conditions" – winter dormancy has begun and it's been a dry day – but several of the helpers willingly accept to patrol their route with me and search for any toads. "Should anyone can locate any toads tonight, that pair will find one," says the patrol manager, indicating her 14-year-old son and the experienced member. We've been out for two hours without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have scaled a barbed wire fence to check under some wood.
Community Involvement
The mother and son became part of the group a while back. The youngster adores all things nature-related and has an goal to become a conservationist, so his mother started to search for activities they could do together to help local wildlife. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the middle-aged small business owner tells me – so when the group was seeking a fresh coordinator recently, she decided to step up.
The teenager, too, has been instrumental in the organization. A clip he created, imploring the municipal authority to block a road through a nature reserve during migration season, influenced the outcome the group's way. After a year of campaigning, the authority agreed to an "access-only" restriction between evening and morning from late winter through to April. Most drivers duly avoided the road.
Other Wildlife and Difficulties
A few vehicles go past when I'm out on patrol and we discover some casualties as a consequence – no toads, but three squashed newts. We spot one living newt as well, and the teenager is especially excited to see a harvestman, which moves in his palms. Yet despite the team's hardest attempts to let me see a toad, the local population 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 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 another volunteer, who has kindly taken the trouble to look for toads in a noted location, considered the largest accurately monitored toad population in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the subject line: "None found." However, in late winter, he tells me, the team plans to assist around 10,000 adult toads over the street.
Impact and Limitations
What level of impact can these groups actually make? "The fact that people are doing this regularly on chilly, wet and miserable late nights is quite extraordinary," says an researcher. "That's something 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 just one danger.
Additional Threats
The global warming has resulted in longer periods of drought, which create the poor environment for some of the animals that toads consume, such as worms and slugs, while higher water temperatures have caused an increase of toxic plants, which can be toxic to toads. Warmer cold seasons also cause toads to wake up from their hibernation more often, interfering with the energy conservation crucial to their life cycle. Loss of environment – especially the disappearance of big water bodies – is another menace.
Researchers are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on wildlife," however "There is a big value in just their presence." But toads play an important role in the food chain, eating pretty much any small creatures or tiny organisms they can swallow and in turn feeding a variety of birds and mammals, such as wildlife. Enhancing conditions for toads – ie creating more ponds, protecting forests and installing toad tunnels – "we'll improve them for a whole bunch of additional wildlife."
Cultural Importance
Another reason to work to preserve toads present is their "important cultural value," notes an specialist. Myths and folklore around toads go back {centuries|hundred
