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It's a Friday night at 7:30, but rather than heading to the pub or watching a film, I've caught a train to a market town in Wiltshire to join volunteers from a toad patrol. These dedicated individuals sacrifice their evenings to safeguard the local toad population.

An Alarming Drop in Numbers

The common toad is becoming increasingly rare. A recent research conducted by an wildlife conservation group showed that the British common toad numbers have almost halved since 1985. Observing a species that has been a fixture of the British countryside in decline is labeled "worrying" by experts. Toads "don't require very particular environments" and "ought to live quite well in the majority of areas in Britain," so if even they are struggling to persist, "it kind of suggests that things are not as they should be."

The UK toad population has almost halved since 1985

The Threat from Roads

Though the study didn't examine the causes for the decline, cars certainly plays a part. Calculations suggest that 20 tonnes of toads are crushed on British roads every year – that is, several hundred thousand. In contrast to frogs, which might be happy to mate "if you left out a bucket of water," toads prefer large ponds. Their capacity to stay out of water for longer than frogs means they can travel further to find them – often hundreds of metres. They tend to stick to their traditional paths – it's common for adult toads to return to their birth pond to mate.

Breeding Patterns

Fittingly, the first toads start their journey for a partner around February 14th, but others travel as far as spring, until it gets dark and travelling through the night. During that period, toads start moving from where they have been hibernating "almost simultaneously."

One volunteer, who grew up in the region and has been trying to protect its amphibians since he was a child, explains that "They've got just one focus: to go and mate." If their path crosses a street, they could be killed by traffic, and that mating period would be lost – preventing a new generation of toads from being produced.

Toad Patrols Throughout the United Kingdom

Seeing hundreds of toad carcasses on local roads "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has resulted in the creation of rescue teams throughout the UK – hundreds of organizations are currently registered with a national initiative. These teams pick up toads and carry them over streets in containers, as well as counting the number of toads they encounter and lobbying for other safety solutions, such as blocked roads and underground wildlife tunnels.

Volunteers usually work during the breeding period, when amphibian movements are frequent. However, this implies they can overlook groups of young toads, which, having existed as spawn and then tadpoles, exit their water habitats over an unpredictable schedule in the end of summer. Because of their small stature – just a couple of cm wide – "they can get obliterated by vehicles." And as being hit "basically turns them into mush," it's more difficult to get data on them. At least when adult toads are lost, their remains can be counted.

Annual Efforts

In contrast to many groups, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth season of operating, go out throughout the year – not nightly, but when weather are warm and wet, or if someone has posted about a amphibian spotting in their group chat. When I ask to join them on duty, they concede it is "not a toady night" – winter dormancy has begun and it's been a dry day – but several of the helpers 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 teenage child and the experienced member. We've been out for 120 minutes without a single toad sighting, and now they have climbed over a barbed wire fence to check under some logs.

Community Participation

The mother and son joined the patrol a year and a half ago. The youngster adores all things nature-related and has an goal to become a conservationist, so his parent started to search for things they could do together to protect native animals. Now she loves it as much as he does, the middle-aged small business owner explains – so when the team was looking for a new manager lately, she decided to step up.

The youth, too, has played an important role in the group. A video he created, imploring the local council to close a street through a nature reserve during migration season, swung the decision the group's way. After a twelve months of campaigning, the authority agreed to an "restricted access" rule between 5pm and 5am from February through to spring. The majority of motorists duly avoided the route.

Other Wildlife and Challenges

Several cars go by when I'm out on patrol and we discover some victims as a consequence – no toads, but several crushed salamanders. We see one living newt as well, and the youngster is particularly pleased to see a harvestman, which dances in his hands. Yet in spite of the team's best efforts to let me see a toad, the local population has clearly gone dormant for the colder months. It seems that I wouldn't have had any more luck anywhere else in the country – all the rescue teams I contact clarify that it's near-impossible at this time of year.

This team anticipates assisting around ten thousand mature toads over the street

A message I receive from another volunteer, who has kindly made the effort to check for toads in a famous site, thought to be the biggest tracked toad population in the UK, reaches me with the subject line: "None found." However, in late winter, he tells me, the group expects to help approximately ten thousand mature amphibians over the street.

Impact and Challenges

How much of a difference can these organizations actually make? "The fact that people are doing this regularly on chilly, wet and miserable evenings is quite extraordinary," notes an expert. "That's something that very much should be celebrated." However, while rescue teams are able to reduce the drop, they cannot prevent it entirely – not least because vehicles is just one danger.

Other Dangers

The global warming has meant longer periods of drought, which create the wrong conditions for some of the creatures that toads consume, such as worms and slugs, while warmer ponds have caused an increase of blue-green algae, which can be harmful to toads. Milder winters also lead toads to wake up from their dormancy more often, interfering with the resource preservation vital to their existence. Loss of environment – especially the loss of big water bodies – is another menace.

Experts are "always a bit worried about overemphasizing practical benefits on wildlife," but "There is a big value in just their presence." But toads play an important role in the ecosystem, consuming pretty much any invertebrates or small animals they can swallow and in turn feeding a variety of birds and mammals, such as wildlife. Enhancing situations for toads – such as creating more ponds, conserving woodland and installing toad tunnels – "benefits for a whole bunch of additional wildlife."

Cultural Importance

An additional motive to try to keep toads around is their "important cultural value," notes an specialist. Legends and tales around toads date back {centuries|hundred