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It is a Friday evening at half past seven, but rather than going out or relaxing at home, I've caught a train to a town in the countryside to meet up with volunteers from a toad patrol. These dedicated individuals give up their nights to safeguard the native amphibian community.

A Worrying Drop in Numbers

The common toad is becoming increasingly rare. A latest research conducted by an amphibian and reptile charity showed that the British common toad numbers have almost halved since 1985. Observing a creature that has been a fixture of the British countryside in decline is described as "concerning" by experts. Toads "don't need very particular environments" and "should be able to live quite well in the majority of areas in the UK," meaning if even they are struggling to persist, "it kind of suggests that the ecosystem is unbalanced."

The UK toad population has almost halved since 1985

The Threat from Traffic

Though the research didn't examine the causes for the drop, traffic is a major factor. Calculations indicate that 20 tonnes of toads are crushed on British roads every year – that is, several hundred thousand. Unlike frogs, which might be content to mate "with just a bucket of water," toads favor big bodies of water. Their ability to remain away from water for more time than frogs means they can journey farther to reach them – often hundreds of metres. They tend to follow their traditional paths – it's typical for adult toads to return to their birth pond to mate.

Migration Habits

Fittingly, the initial amphibians begin their quest for a partner around February 14th, but some move as late as April, until it gets dark and travelling after sunset. During that time, toads start moving from wherever they have been hibernating "all pretty much at the same time."

One volunteer, who was raised in the area and has been working to save its amphibians since he was a boy, notes that "Their sole purpose: to go and have an orgy." If their route crosses a road, they could be killed by traffic, and that mating period would be lost – preventing a new generation of toads from being produced.

Rescue Groups Throughout the United Kingdom

Finding hundreds of dead toads on nearby streets "resonates deeply with people," and has resulted in the creation of rescue teams throughout the UK – 274 groups are officially listed with a national initiative. These teams pick up toads and carry them across roads in containers, as well as counting the number of toads they find and lobbying for other protection measures, such as blocked roads and underground wildlife tunnels.

Patrols usually work during the migration season, when amphibian movements are more regular. However, this implies they can miss numbers of toadlets, which, having existed as spawn and then juveniles, leave their ponds over an unpredictable schedule in late summer. Because of their size – just a couple of cm wide – "they are destroyed by car traffic." And as being run over "essentially crushes them," it's harder to get data on them. At least when adult toads are lost, their remains can be tallied.

Annual Work

Unlike many groups, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth season of operating, go out throughout the year – not nightly, but whenever weather are warm and wet, or if someone has posted about a toad sighting in their group chat. When I ask to join them on patrol, they admit it is "not a toady night" – winter dormancy has started and it's been a arid period – but a few of the volunteers willingly accept to patrol their route with me and see what we can find. "Should anyone can locate any toads tonight, those two will spot one," says the patrol manager, pointing to her 14-year-old son and the longtime volunteer. We've been out for two hours without a single toad sighting, and now they have scaled a barbed wire fence to inspect beneath some logs.

Family Participation

The mother and son became part of the group a while back. The teenager loves all things nature-related and has an ambition to become a environmentalist, so his parent started to search for activities they could do together to protect local wildlife. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the 41-year-old small business owner explains – so when the team was seeking a new manager recently, she volunteered for the role.

The youth, too, has been instrumental in the organization. A video he created, imploring the local council to close a street through a protected area during breeding time, influenced the outcome the group's way. After a year of campaigning, the authority agreed to an "restricted access" rule between evening and morning from late winter through to April. The majority of motorists respected and avoided the road.

Additional Species and Challenges

Several vehicles go by when I'm out on patrol and we discover some victims as a result – no toads, but three squashed newts. We see one live amphibian as well, and the teenager is particularly pleased to see a daddy longlegs, which dances in his palms. Yet in spite of the group's best efforts to show me a toad, the local population has clearly gone dormant for the winter. It appears that I couldn't have found any better success anywhere else in the nation – all the patrol groups I reach out to explain that it's near-impossible at this time of year.

They project rescuing nearly 10,000 grown amphibians during migration

A message I get from another volunteer, who has generously made the effort to check for toads in a noted location, thought to be the biggest tracked toad population in the UK, reaches me with the title: "No toads." However, in February and March, he tells me, the group expects to help approximately 10,000 mature amphibians across the road.

Effectiveness and Limitations

How much of a difference can these groups actually make? "The reality that volunteers are doing this consistently on cold, damp and unpleasant late nights is quite extraordinary," says an expert. "That's something that very much deserves recognition." However, while rescue teams are able to slow the decline, they cannot prevent it entirely – not least because vehicles is not the only threat.

Additional Threats

The global warming has meant longer periods of drought, which cause the poor environment for some of the animals that toads consume, such as worms and slugs, while higher water temperatures have led to an increase of toxic plants, which can be toxic to toads. Milder winters also cause toads to wake up from their hibernation more often, disrupting the energy conservation vital to their existence. Habitat destruction – especially the loss of big water bodies – is an additional threat.

Experts are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on biodiversity," however "It's important in just having these animals around." But toads play an significant part in the ecosystem, eating pretty much any invertebrates or small animals they can fit in their mouths and in turn sustaining a variety of predators, such as wildlife. Enhancing situations for toads – such as creating more ponds, conserving woodland and constructing toad tunnels – "we'll improve them for a whole bunch of additional wildlife."

Cultural Significance

An additional motive to try to keep toads present is their "historical significance," notes an specialist. Myths and folklore around toads date back {centuries|hundred