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It is a Friday evening at 7:30, but rather than going out or watching a film, I've caught a train to a town in the countryside to join local helpers from a toad patrol. These committed people give up their evenings to safeguard the native amphibian community.

An Alarming Decline in Population

The common toad is becoming increasingly rare. A recent research led by an amphibian and reptile charity showed that the UK toad population have dropped by half since the mid-1980s. Observing a creature that has been a fixture of the UK landscape in decrease is described as "worrying" by experts. Toads "don't need very specific conditions" and "ought to live successfully in most of habitats in the UK," meaning if even they are not managing to survive, "it indicates that the ecosystem is unbalanced."

The UK toad population has almost halved since 1985

The Danger from Roads

Though the research didn't examine the causes for the decline, traffic is a major factor. Calculations indicate that 20 tons of toads are killed on British roads every year – in other words, hundreds of thousands. Unlike frogs, which might be happy to mate "with just a small container," toads favor large ponds. Their ability to stay out of water for more time than frogs means they can journey farther to find them – often hundreds of metres. They tend to follow their ancestral migration routes – it's common for mature amphibians to return to their birth pond to mate.

Breeding Habits

Fittingly, the first toads start their journey for a mate around Valentine's day, but some move as far as spring, until it gets night and travelling after sunset. During that period, toads begin migrating from wherever they have been hibernating "all pretty much at the same time."

One volunteer, who grew up in the region and has been working to save its amphibians since he was a child, explains that "Their sole purpose: to go and have an orgy." If their route crosses a road, they could all get run over, and that mating period would be lost – stopping a next generation of toads from being produced.

Rescue Groups Throughout the UK

Seeing many of toad carcasses on local roads "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has led to the formation of toad patrols across the UK – hundreds of organizations are currently registered with a national initiative. These teams pick up toads and carry them across roads in containers, as well as recording the number of toads they encounter and lobbying for other protection measures, such as blocked roads and underground wildlife tunnels.

Volunteers usually work during the breeding period, when toad crossings are more regular. However, this implies they can overlook numbers of toadlets, which, having been spawn and then juveniles, leave their ponds over an irregular timetable in the end of summer. Because of their size – just one or two centimetres wide – "they can get obliterated by vehicles." And as being hit "essentially crushes them," it's more difficult to get data on them. At least when adult toads are killed, their carcasses can be counted.

Year-Round Efforts

Unlike many groups, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth season of operating, go out year-round – not nightly, but when weather are warm and wet, or if someone has reported about a toad sighting in their group chat. When I request to accompany them on patrol, they admit it is "not a toady night" – winter dormancy 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 locate any toads tonight, that pair will find one," says the group coordinator, indicating her 14-year-old son and the longtime volunteer. We've been out for 120 minutes without a single toad sighting, and now they have climbed over a barbed wire fence to inspect beneath some wood.

Family Participation

The mother and son joined the patrol a year and a half ago. The teenager adores all things wildlife and has an goal to become a conservationist, so his parent started to look for things they could do jointly to protect local wildlife. Now she loves it as much as he does, the 41-year-old entrepreneur explains – so when the team was looking for a fresh coordinator recently, she decided to step up.

The teenager, too, has played an important role in the organization. A video he made, urging the local council to block a road through a protected area during migration season, swung the decision the group's way. After a twelve months of campaigning, the council approved an "restricted access" restriction between 5pm and 5am from late winter through to April. The majority of motorists respected and avoided the road.

Other Wildlife and Challenges

A few vehicles go past when I'm out on patrol and we discover some casualties as a consequence – no toads, but several crushed salamanders. We see one live amphibian as well, and the youngster is particularly pleased to see a harvestman, which dances in his palms. Yet in spite of the group's hardest attempts to show me a toad, the native community has obviously gone dormant for the winter. It appears that I wouldn't have had any more luck elsewhere in the nation – all the patrol groups I reach out to explain that it's very difficult 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 generously taken the trouble to look for toads in a noted location, thought to be the largest accurately monitored toad population in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the title: "None found." However, in late winter, he informs me, the group plans to assist approximately 10,000 adult toads over the street.

Impact and Limitations

How much of a difference can these organizations actually make? "The reality that volunteers are performing this regularly on cold, damp and unpleasant late nights is remarkable," notes an researcher. "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 resulted in longer periods of dry weather, which cause the poor environment for some of the creatures that toads eat, such as worms and slugs, while warmer ponds have caused an increase of toxic plants, which can be harmful to toads. Milder winters also cause toads to emerge from their hibernation more often, disrupting the resource preservation crucial to their existence. Habitat destruction – especially the loss of big water bodies – is an additional threat.

Researchers are "always a bit worried about overemphasizing practical benefits on biodiversity," but "It's important in just their presence." But toads play an significant part in the food chain, eating pretty much any invertebrates or tiny organisms they can swallow and in turn sustaining a number of predators, such as hedgehogs and otters. Enhancing situations for toads – ie creating more ponds, conserving woodland and constructing amphibian passages – "benefits for a wide range of additional wildlife."

Historical Importance

An additional motive to try to keep toads around is their "historical significance," adds an expert. Legends and tales around toads go back {centuries|hundred