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It's Friday evening at half past seven, but instead of heading to the pub or watching a film, I've taken a train to a market town in the countryside to meet up with volunteers from a toad patrol. These dedicated individuals sacrifice their nights to protect the native amphibian community.

An Alarming Decline in Population

The common toad is growing more uncommon. A latest study led by an amphibian and reptile charity showed that the UK toad population have almost halved since 1985. Observing a species that has been a fixture of the British countryside in decrease is described as "worrying" by experts. Toads "don't need very specific conditions" and "should be able to live quite well in most of habitats in the UK," so if even they are not managing to survive, "it indicates that the ecosystem is unbalanced."

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

The Danger from Roads

Though the research didn't cover the causes for the decline, cars certainly plays a part. Calculations indicate that 20 tonnes of toads are killed on British roads annually – in other words, hundreds of thousands. In contrast to frogs, which might be content to mate "with just a small container," toads prefer big bodies of water. Their capacity to remain away from water for longer than frogs allows they can journey farther to find them – sometimes long distances. They tend to stick to their ancestral migration routes – it's common for mature amphibians to return to their natal pond to mate.

Migration Patterns

Appropriately enough, the first toads start their journey for a mate around Valentine's day, but others travel as far as April, until it gets night and moving through the night. During that period, toads begin migrating from wherever they have been overwintering "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 "Their sole purpose: to go and mate." If their path crosses a street, they could all get run over, and that breeding season would never happen – preventing a next generation of toads from being produced.

Rescue Groups Across the United Kingdom

Seeing hundreds of toad carcasses on nearby streets "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has resulted in the creation of toad patrols across the UK – 274 groups are currently registered with a countrywide program. These teams collect toads and carry them over streets in buckets, as well as counting the number of toads they find and advocating for other protection measures, such as blocked roads and amphibian passages.

Volunteers tend to operate during the migration season, when toad crossings are frequent. However, this implies they can overlook numbers of young toads, which, having been spawn and then tadpoles, leave their ponds over an unpredictable schedule in late summer. Because of their small stature – just a couple of cm wide – "they are destroyed by car traffic." And as being hit "essentially crushes them," it's more difficult to collect information on them. At least when mature amphibians are lost, their carcasses can be counted.

Annual Efforts

Unlike many groups, one local team, who are in their eighth year of operating, go out throughout the year – not nightly, but whenever conditions are warm and wet, or if a member has reported about a amphibian spotting in their messaging app. When I ask to join them on patrol, they admit it is "not ideal conditions" – toad hibernation season has begun and it's been a arid period – but several of the volunteers gamely agree to patrol their area with me and see what we can find. "If anyone can find any toads tonight, that pair will find one," says the patrol manager, pointing to her 14-year-old son and the experienced member. We've been out for 120 minutes without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have climbed over a barbed wire fence to check under some logs.

Family Involvement

The family duo joined the patrol a year and a half ago. The youngster loves all things nature-related and has an ambition to become a conservationist, so his mother started to search for activities they could do together to help local wildlife. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the middle-aged entrepreneur explains – so when the group was seeking a fresh coordinator lately, she decided to step up.

The youth, too, has been instrumental in the organization. A clip he made, urging the municipal authority to block a road through a nature reserve during migration season, influenced the outcome the team's way. After a year of lobbying, the council approved an "restricted access" restriction between evening and morning from February through to April. Most drivers respected and avoided the route.

Additional Species and Challenges

Several vehicles go by when I'm out on patrol and we discover some casualties as a result – no amphibians, but several crushed salamanders. We spot one live amphibian as well, and the teenager is particularly pleased to see a harvestman, which moves in his palms. Yet despite the team's best efforts to let me see a toad, the native community has obviously settled down for the winter. It appears that I wouldn't have had any more luck anywhere else in the country – all the patrol groups I reach out to explain that it's near-impossible at this time of year.

The group expects to help approximately 10,000 adult toads across the road

One email I receive from a different helper, who has kindly taken the trouble to look for toads in a noted location, considered the largest accurately monitored toad population in the UK, reaches me with the subject line: "None found." However, in late winter, he informs me, the team plans to assist around ten thousand adult toads across the road.

Effectiveness and Challenges

How much of a difference can these organizations truly achieve? "The reality that volunteers are doing this regularly on chilly, wet and miserable evenings is quite extraordinary," says an researcher. "That's something that very much deserves recognition." However, while rescue teams are able to reduce the drop, they can't stop it completely – partly since traffic is just one danger.

Additional Threats

The global warming has resulted in extended spells of dry weather, which create the wrong conditions for some of the animals that toads consume, such as invertebrates, while warmer ponds have led to an increase of blue-green algae, which can be toxic to toads. Warmer cold seasons also lead toads to wake up from their hibernation more often, disrupting the resource preservation vital to their life cycle. Loss of environment – especially the disappearance of big water bodies – 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 food chain, eating almost any small creatures or tiny organisms they can fit in their mouths and in turn sustaining a variety of predators, such as hedgehogs and otters. Improving conditions for toads – ie creating more ponds, protecting forests and constructing toad tunnels – "benefits for a whole bunch of other species."

Cultural Importance

Another reason to work to preserve toads present is their "historical significance," adds an expert. Legends and tales around toads go back {centuries|hundred