The cars just turn them into mush': can Britain's toads be saved from traffic and terrible decline?

"These are volunteers who like similar groups up and down the country give up their evenings to protect their local toad population. For the common toad (scientific name Bufo bufo) is becoming increasingly uncommon. A recent study led by amphibian and reptile charity Froglife showed that the UK toad population has almost halved since 1985. To see a creature that has been a stalwart of the British countryside not to mention a prominent feature of literature and folklore in decline is worrying,"

"Though the study didn't cover the reasons for the decline, traffic certainly plays a part: Froglife estimates that 20 tonnes of toads are killed on UK roads every year in other words, several hundred thousand. Unlike frogs, which would probably be happy to mate if you left out a bucket of water, according to one of Warminster toad patrol's founding members, Iain Perkins, toads like large ponds."

UK common toad numbers have almost halved since 1985. Volunteers run local toad patrols to protect migrating toads. Road mortality is substantial, with an estimated 20 tonnes of toads killed on UK roads each year, equating to several hundred thousand individuals. Common toads prefer large ponds and can remain out of water longer than frogs, enabling migrations of sometimes hundreds of metres. Toads tend to follow ancestral migration routes and often return to their birth pond to mate. The breeding migration begins around February and can continue as late as April.

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