{"id":541042,"date":"2026-04-20T12:53:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T12:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/541042\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T12:53:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T12:53:14","slug":"fears-more-than-1000-toads-may-have-died-after-welsh-water-firm-drains-reservoir-wildlife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/541042\/","title":{"rendered":"Fears more than 1,000 toads may have died after Welsh water firm drains reservoir | Wildlife"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">More than 1,000 toads may have died after a reservoir important to the local ecosystem was drained by a water company, conservationists in north <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk\/wales\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wales<\/a> have said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Volunteers at Wrexham Toad Patrols help toads returning to the Nant-y-Ffrith reservoir on the Llandegla moors in breeding season, this year assisting 1,500 of the amphibians to cross busy roads to help protect the declining species.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The group said it was \u201cshocked, angry and heartbroken\u201d to discover the reservoir was drained by Hafren Dyfrdwy over the Easter weekend, a few weeks before the toads were expected to leave the site.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cWhy now \u2013 at the height of spring, when wildlife depends on these waters for breeding, feeding and nesting?\u201d Teri Davies said in a social media post. \u201cWe understand the need for the work, but not the timing. Waiting just a few more weeks could have made all the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Nant-y-Ffrith, near Wrexham, is home to birds including the great crested grebe and coot. Sedge warblers, reed buntings, lapwings and curlews live near adjacent streams, fields and a wooded valley.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Toads return to the same breeding sites year on year and do not relocate, Davies said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cWith the reservoir gone, they may not survive. Birds like curlews and lapwings have lost vital breeding and feeding grounds \u2026 Frogs, newts, insects and even reported otters will all feel the impact, with effects rippling through the entire ecosystem,\u201d Davies added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Hafren Dyfrdwy, which operates in north-east and mid Wales, said it drained the reservoir to carry out \u201cessential safety improvements\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">A spokesperson called the situation \u201cconcerning for the local community\u201d and said it wanted to \u201cidentify ways to put things right for the future\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The company was \u201ccurrently reviewing what has occurred alongside our ecologists on site\u201d, they added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Common toad populations in the UK have declined by 41% in the past 40 years, according to the wildlife charity Froglife.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 1,000 toads may have died after a reservoir important to the local ecosystem was drained by&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-541042","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}