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It is a Friday night at half past seven, but rather than going out or relaxing at home, I've taken a train to a town in the countryside to join volunteers from a toad patrol. These committed people give up their nights to safeguard the native amphibian community.

An Alarming Drop in Population

The common toad is becoming increasingly uncommon. A latest study conducted by an amphibian and reptile charity showed that the UK toad population have dropped by half since the mid-1980s. Seeing a creature that has been a fixture of the UK landscape in decline is described as "worrying" by researchers. Toads "don't need very specific conditions" and "should be able to live quite well in most of areas in Britain," meaning if even they are not managing to survive, "it kind of suggests that things are not as they should be."

Since 1985, Britain's toad numbers have nearly been cut in half

The Threat from Traffic

Though the study didn't examine the causes for the drop, traffic is a major factor. Estimates suggest that 20 tons of toads are killed on UK roads annually – in other words, hundreds of thousands. In contrast to frogs, which might be happy to mate "with just a bucket of water," toads favor large ponds. Their ability to remain away from water for longer than frogs allows they can journey farther to reach them – sometimes long distances. They tend to follow their traditional paths – it's common for mature amphibians to return to their birth pond to mate.

Migration Habits

Appropriately enough, the initial amphibians begin their quest for a mate around Valentine's day, but others travel as late as spring, until it gets night and moving after sunset. During that time, toads begin migrating from where they have been overwintering "all pretty much at the same time."

A local helper, who grew up in the area and has been working to save its toad population since he was a boy, notes that "They've got just one focus: to go and have an orgy." If their route happens to a street, they could be killed by traffic, and that breeding season would be lost – stopping a next generation of toads from being born.

Toad Patrols Throughout the United Kingdom

Finding many of toad carcasses on nearby streets "resonates deeply with people," and has resulted in the creation of rescue teams throughout the UK – hundreds of organizations are currently registered with a countrywide program. These groups collect toads and carry them over streets in buckets, as well as counting the quantity of toads they find and lobbying for other protection measures, such as road closures and amphibian passages.

Patrols tend to operate during the breeding period, when amphibian movements are frequent. However, this means they can overlook numbers of toadlets, which, having been spawn and then juveniles, leave their ponds over an unpredictable schedule in late summer. Because of their size – just one or two centimetres wide – "they can get obliterated by vehicles." And as being run over "basically turns them into mush," it's more difficult to get data on them. At least when mature amphibians are killed, their carcasses can be tallied.

Year-Round Efforts

In contrast to most patrols, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth season of functioning, go out throughout the year – not every night, but when conditions are warm and wet, or if a member has posted about a toad sighting in their messaging app. When I ask to join them on duty, they concede it is "not ideal conditions" – toad hibernation season has started and it's been a dry day – but several of the volunteers gamely agree to patrol their route with me and search for any toads. "If anyone can find any toads tonight, those two will find one," says the patrol manager, pointing to her 14-year-old son and the experienced member. We've been out for two hours without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have climbed over a barbed wire fence to check under some wood.

Family Participation

The family duo joined the group a while back. The youngster loves all things wildlife and has an ambition to become a environmentalist, so his parent started to search for activities they could do jointly to help local wildlife. Now she loves it as much as he does, the middle-aged entrepreneur explains – so when the group was seeking a fresh coordinator recently, she volunteered for the role.

The youth, too, has played an important role in the group. A video he made, urging the municipal authority to close a street through a nature reserve during breeding time, influenced the outcome the team's way. After a twelve months of lobbying, the authority agreed to an "restricted access" rule between 5pm and 5am from February through to spring. Most drivers duly avoided the route.

Other Wildlife and Challenges

Several cars go past when I'm out on patrol and we find some casualties as a consequence – no toads, but three squashed newts. We see one living newt as well, and the youngster is especially excited to see a daddy longlegs, which dances in his hands. Yet in spite of the group's hardest attempts to let me see a toad, the native community has obviously gone dormant for the colder months. It appears that I wouldn't have had any more luck elsewhere in the country – all the patrol groups I contact explain that it's near-impossible at this season.

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

One email I get from a different helper, who has kindly made the effort to check for toads in a famous site, considered the largest accurately monitored toad population in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the title: "None found." However, in February and March, he tells me, the group expects to help approximately 10,000 mature amphibians across the road.

Impact and Challenges

How much of a difference can these groups actually make? "The reality that people are performing this regularly on cold, damp and unpleasant evenings is quite extraordinary," says an researcher. "That's something that very much deserves recognition." However, while toad patrols are able to reduce the drop, they cannot prevent it entirely – partly since traffic is not the only threat.

Additional Threats

The global warming has resulted in longer periods of dry weather, which create the poor environment for some of the animals that toads eat, such as invertebrates, while warmer ponds have led to an increase of toxic plants, which can be toxic to toads. Warmer cold seasons also lead toads to wake up from their dormancy more often, interfering with the resource preservation crucial to their existence. Habitat destruction – especially the loss of big water bodies – is another menace.

Experts are "always a bit worried about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on wildlife," but "It's important in just having these animals around." But toads do have an significant part in the ecosystem, consuming pretty much any small creatures or tiny organisms they can swallow and in turn sustaining a variety of birds and mammals, such as wildlife. Improving conditions for toads – ie building water habitats, conserving woodland and installing amphibian passages – "we'll improve them for a whole bunch of additional wildlife."

Cultural Importance

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