'Toad patrollers' help shepherd two million creatures across busy roads amid species decline

The nation’s “toad patrollers” are tasked with helping the common toads navigate roads that cut across their migration paths to their breeding ponds.

It comes as charity Froglife said their work was vital to help a species in widespread decline.

Data from Froglife collected by volunteers and published in a study last year found common toads had declined by more than two-fifths (41%) in 40 years – although there had been some significant regional recoveries since 2013.

But a record number of toad patrols were in operation in 2025, with 280 volunteer groups moving 156,227 toads and submitting their data to Froglife.

In total, more than two million toads had been helped across British roads since Froglife started collecting records in 1974.

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The charity said that volunteers who patrolled roads that lay between the toads’ overwintering grounds such as woodlands and their breeding ponds not only saved individual animals, but could also help stop some local populations going extinct, and collect valuable data on how the species was faring.In the patrols, volunteers go out on wet nights early in the year armed with torches and buckets, walking slowly up and down roads, and carrying toads, frogs and newts to safety to allow them to continue their journey.

At a handful of sites, there are even road closures for the toad migration season.

Froglife said volunteers gained well-being benefits from being outside, making friends and meeting like-minded people, and felt a sense of pride at making a difference for wildlife.

Meanwhile, the charity said the citizen science data gained from the patrols was “vitally important” for helping conserve common toads in the UK.

It was used for a range of purposes, from protecting breeding ponds in the planning system to informing research on climate impacts and making it available to anyone interested in their local wildlife.

An analysis of the data also highlighted counties with no active toad patrols despite having registered toad crossings.

The highest number of counties with no active patrols were found in Scotland, the Midlands and the north-east of England, Froglife said.Ashlea Mawby, Froglife’s toads on roads co-ordinator, said: “We encourage anyone living in these areas of the country to please consider establishing a patrol at an inactive site.”

And she said: “Wherever you live, there are opportunities to get involved with the project whether it’s by joining your local toad patrol, registering a toad crossing that you know about, or starting a patrol at an inactive site.

“Just one evening of toad patrolling can save hundreds of toads, as well as other amphibians, during migration.

“It’s one of the most direct ways to help your local wildlife.”

But Froglife also warned that the common toad population continued to suffer from habitat loss and pollution.

The charity said the Planning and Infrastructure Act, which was passed last year, weakened protections for wildlife.

And it is calling for the planned Water Reform Bill to tackle freshwater pollution from agriculture and sewage, which harms amphibians

Froglife, along with other conservation charities, is calling for the Bill to deliver a number of measures including a strong environmental regulator, strengthening water quality regulations, enforcing polluter-pays rules and making space for water including wide corridors of habitat along rivers.