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It's a Friday evening at half past seven, but rather than going out or relaxing at home, I've taken a train to a town in Wiltshire to meet up with volunteers from a toad patrol. These committed people sacrifice their evenings to safeguard the local toad population.

An Alarming Decline in Population

The common toad is becoming increasingly rare. A recent study led by an amphibian and reptile charity showed that the British common toad numbers have almost halved since the mid-1980s. Observing a species that has been a stalwart of the UK landscape in decline is labeled "concerning" by researchers. Toads "don't need very particular environments" and "ought to live successfully in most of areas in the UK," so if even they are not managing to survive, "it kind of suggests that things are not as they should be."

Toad populations across the UK have declined by almost 50% since the 1980s

The Threat from Roads

Though the study didn't examine the causes for the drop, cars is a major factor. Calculations suggest that 20 tons of toads are killed on British roads annually – in other words, hundreds of thousands. Unlike frogs, which might be content to mate "with just a bucket of water," toads favor large ponds. Their capacity to stay out of water for more time than frogs means they can journey farther to find them – often hundreds of metres. They usually stick to their ancestral migration routes – it's typical for mature amphibians to return to their birth pond to mate.

Migration Habits

Appropriately enough, the first toads start their journey for a mate around Valentine's day, but some move as late as April, waiting until it gets night and travelling after sunset. During that time, toads start moving from wherever they have been hibernating "almost simultaneously."

One volunteer, who grew up in the area and has been trying to protect its amphibians since he was a boy, notes that "They've got just one focus: to go and have an orgy." If their path happens to a street, they could be killed by traffic, and that mating period would be lost – stopping a new generation of toads from being born.

Toad Patrols Throughout the United Kingdom

Finding many of dead toads on nearby streets "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has led to the creation of toad patrols across the UK – hundreds of organizations are officially listed with a countrywide program. These teams collect toads and transport them over streets in buckets, as well as counting the quantity of toads they encounter and advocating for other protection measures, such as blocked roads and underground wildlife tunnels.

Patrols usually work during the breeding period, when amphibian movements are more regular. However, this means they can miss numbers of young toads, which, having been spawn and then tadpoles, exit their water habitats over an unpredictable schedule in late summer. Because of their small stature – just a couple of cm wide – "they are destroyed by vehicles." And as being hit "essentially crushes them," it's more difficult to get data on them. At least when mature amphibians are killed, their carcasses can be tallied.

Year-Round Work

In contrast to most patrols, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth season of operating, go out year-round – not every night, but whenever conditions are damp, or if someone has reported about a amphibian spotting in their messaging app. When I ask to join them on duty, they admit it is "not a toady night" – toad hibernation season has started and it's been a arid period – but several of the helpers gamely agree to patrol their area with me and see what we can find. "Should anyone can find any toads tonight, that pair will find one," says the patrol manager, pointing to her teenage child and the longtime volunteer. We've been out for two hours without a single toad sighting, and now they have climbed over a wire barrier to check under some logs.

Community Involvement

The family duo became part of the patrol a while back. The teenager adores all things wildlife and has an goal to become a environmentalist, so his mother started to look for things they could do jointly to help native animals. Now she loves it as much as he does, the middle-aged small business owner tells me – so when the group was seeking a fresh coordinator recently, she volunteered for the role.

The teenager, too, has been instrumental in the organization. A clip he made, imploring the municipal authority to close a road through a nature reserve during migration season, swung the decision the team's way. After a year of campaigning, the council agreed to an "access-only" restriction between evening and morning from February through to April. The majority of motorists duly avoided the road.

Additional Species and Challenges

A few vehicles go past when I'm out on duty and we find some victims as a result – no toads, but several crushed salamanders. We see one live amphibian as well, and the teenager is especially excited to see a daddy longlegs, which dances in his palms. Yet despite the team's hardest attempts to show me a toad, the native community has clearly gone dormant for the winter. It appears that I wouldn't have had any better success elsewhere in the country – all the rescue teams I reach out to clarify that it's very difficult at this time of year.

They project rescuing nearly 10,000 grown amphibians during migration

A message I receive from a different helper, who has kindly taken the trouble to look for toads in a noted location, considered the biggest tracked toad group in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the title: "None found." However, in February and March, he informs me, the group plans to assist approximately ten thousand adult toads across the road.

Effectiveness and Limitations

How much of a difference can these organizations actually make? "The fact that people are doing this regularly on cold, damp and unpleasant late nights is quite extraordinary," notes an expert. "This effort that very much deserves recognition." However, while rescue teams are able to slow the decline, they can't stop it completely – not least because traffic is not the only threat.

Additional Threats

The global warming has meant extended spells of drought, which cause the wrong conditions for some of the animals that toads consume, such as worms and slugs, while higher water temperatures have caused an increase of toxic plants, which can be toxic to toads. Milder winters also lead toads to wake up from their hibernation more frequently, disrupting the energy conservation crucial to their existence. Habitat destruction – especially the loss of large ponds – is an additional threat.

Researchers are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on biodiversity," but "It's important in just their presence." But toads play an significant part in the ecosystem, eating almost any small creatures or tiny organisms they can fit in their mouths and in turn feeding a variety of predators, such as hedgehogs and otters. Improving situations for toads – such as building water habitats, protecting forests and constructing amphibian passages – "benefits for a wide range of other species."

Historical Importance

An additional motive to work to preserve toads present is their "historical significance," adds an specialist. Myths and folklore around toads go back {centuries|hundred