The Toad Patrol results are in!

The Common Toad - a wonderfully charming amphibian with ‘warty’ skin and waddling gait- is thought to be experiencing declines in the UK, in some cases caused by the effect of road traffic as toads travel slowly back to breeding ponds, often used for generations. We asked for volunteers to help man a Toad crossing in Todenham for occasional evenings between February and the end of March. As "Toads on Roads" volunteers, we were part of a national campaign co-ordinated by the national wildlife charity Froglife, and supported by ARG UK, a national network of volunteer groups concerned with amphibian and reptile conservation. Thousands of volunteers across the country helped Toads across roads in a coordinated effort to help save the Common Toad from further declines.

Ideal conditions for Toad migration are warm, wet or damp evenings, and with a WhatsApp group co-ordinated by Todenahm Road Toad Patrol co-ordinator Linda, messages were posted when volunteers were needed. Bucket and gloves were the necessary equipment to careful pick up the Toads and carry them safely across the road.

The numbers of Toads helped safely across was down by about 22% compared to 2025, most likely caused by the lack of rain during spring last year, when it is suspected that many starved due to the lack of slugs/worms etc. Sadly, a number of local crossings reported huge drops in their Toad numbers, with some crossings having very little movement. Despite our best efforts, we still had 105 Toads killed on the road, but 803 were helped which is great news! The Toddenham Toad Patrol's final figures are as follows:

Linda is possibly going to organise further Toad Patrols in September when the Toadlets (baby Toads) start to cross over the road (isn't it amazing that they know exactly where to go!), however, this is considerably harder to do to avoid injuring the Toadlets, so we will see. There will definitely be another early spring patrol next year, so if you are interested and would like to volunteer, do get in touch with us by email and we will add you to the volunteer list.

Photos by Jules Howard