Over 2 million toads have been safely moved across UK roads by volunteer Toad Patrollers across Great Britain Since records started being collected in 1974 by reptile and amphibian conservation charity, Froglife. As the 2026 Spring migration of common toads is about to begin, and with it, the start of the 2026 Toad Patrols, Froglife reflects on the impact that dedicated volunteers and the Toads on Roads project have had and what they have learned from the citizen science project over the last year.
In Autumn 2025, valuable data collected by volunteers resulted in a new piece of research being published in the open access journal Biodiversity and Conservation. This study quantified the common toad decline in Britain as a staggering 41% over 40 years and constitutes the largest analysis of common toad data to date.
Fortunately, Froglife data from the 2025 Toad migration season shows that there was a record number of volunteer Toad Patrols in Great Britain. In 2025, 280 toad patrols saved 156,227 toads and submitted their data to Froglife. This represents a long-term increasing trend of more people saving more toads than ever before.
Not only do Toad Patrols save the life of each individual toad, but they also help to stop some local populations going extinct and provide valuable data on common toads in the UK. Dedicated volunteers go out on wet, dark nights early in the year to help move the toads across the roads on their migration from overwintering grounds, such as woodlands, to their breeding ponds. These volunteers mainly come to save the animals, but they stay for the unexpected benefits to their wellbeing; getting outside in the fresh air, making friends and meeting like-minded individuals along with a sense of pride knowing the impact of their nights work.
This citizen science data is vitally important for common toad conservation in the UK.
Froglife share this data with partners for a range of uses from practical applications such as assisting with protecting ponds used by toads in the planning system, to informing research such as investigating the impacts of climate and land-use change on global herpetofauna population trends. In addition, the charity uploads the records annually onto the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) Atlas to make it available to everyone from decision makers to Local Environmental record centres, to individuals interested in their local wildlife. In the last 12 months alone 68,311 records have been downloaded from 515 downloads on the NBN website.
An analysis of the Froglife data also highlighted counties with no active Toad Patrols despite the presence of registered toad crossings. The highest number of counties with no active Toad Patrols were found in Scotland and in the Midlands and North-East of England.
Ashlea Mawby, Froglife’s Toads on Roads Coordinator says “While these gaps may sound worrying, this highlights a clear opportunity for targeted outreach. We encourage anyone living in these areas of the country to please consider establishing a patrol at an inactive site. 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. Just use our Toads on Roads map to find your nearest patrol: www.froglife.org/tormap”
Despite this heroic effort the common toad population in the UK continues to suffer due to habitat loss and pollution that can’t be solved by patrolling. Last year The Planning and Infrastructure Bill weakened protection for UK wildlife. This year’s Water Reform Bill presents a critical opportunity for this Government to deliver on its manifesto commitment to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas from agricultural and sewage pollution. Both of which damage freshwater environments and have been shown to have damaging impacts on amphibians. But only if we do it right. To achieve this, Froglife and partners from Wildlife and Countryside Link have identified 6 priorities that the Water Reform Bill must deliver: 1. Creating a strong, independent environmental regulator. 2. Strengthening the Water Framework Directive’s coverage and ambition. 3. Rolling out a new system of effective regional governance. 4. Enforcing polluter pays requirements, including Extended Producer Responsibility. 5. Make space for water, from source to sea, including wide corridors of riparian habitat. 6. Placing public benefit at the heart of water company governance.
The full research paper can be read online: bit.ly/uncommoncommontoads