The UK’s common toad population has dropped sharply, with new research showing numbers have almost halved in less than 40 years.
An analysis led by the University of Cambridge found a 41% decline in toads recorded by volunteer “toad patrols” between 1985 and 2021. Similar monitoring in Switzerland revealed a one-third fall since 1973.
Researchers say the reasons were not directly studied, but likely include road traffic, pond loss, urbanisation, and declines in invertebrates such as beetles, slugs and earthworms that toads rely on for food.
Toad patrols count and move amphibians during their annual breeding migrations in spring, providing some of the longest-running amphibian datasets in Europe.
Scientists warn that urgent conservation action is needed to protect the species, which was once a familiar part of Britain’s landscape but is now becoming increasingly rare.
