More than 1,000 toads may have died after the Nant-y-Ffrith reservoir was drained over the Easter weekend for safety improvements, according to Wrexham Toad Patrols. The reservoir was drained by Hafren Dyfrdwy water company for essential safety improvements, the company said. The draining occurred over the Easter weekend, when toads were still in the water.
Volunteers had assisted almost 1,500 toads this year, four times as many as last year, according to Wrexham Toad Patrols. The toads were due to leave the site in a few weeks at the end of the breeding season. According to BBC News - Science, volunteer Becky Wiseman described the reservoir as silent, with no signs of life.
The males are very vocal so you can usually hear them. It was silent.
Another volunteer, Ella Thisleton, said the loss was devastating and that the group could have taken steps to prevent fatalities if they had known about the draining. Teri Davies, a group member, said the volunteers were "totally gutted" and noted that if the work had waited four to six weeks, the toads would have completed their breeding cycle and left the water. Hafren Dyfrdwy said it is reviewing what occurred alongside its ecologists and stressed that the work is essential to keep the reservoir safe.
Common toad populations in the UK have declined by 41% in the last 40 years, largely due to lack of garden ponds, according to Froglife. Birds including curlews and geese also use the reservoir and their habitat may have been disturbed, Wrexham Toad Patrols said.
We got as close to the reservoir as we could but we saw no life.
I appreciate that people see humans as the priority but we're not the only ones here and I think we need to work together to prevent damage going forward.
All of us are totally gutted, all that hard work and it's just gone.
If it had just waited four to six weeks then they would have laid their spawn, the spawn would have turned to toadlets.
They would have left the water free for the maintenance works.