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It is a Friday night at half past seven, but instead of going out or relaxing at home, I've caught a train to a town in Wiltshire to meet up with volunteers from a toad patrol. These committed people give up their evenings to safeguard the local toad population.

An Alarming Drop in Population

The Bufo bufo is growing more rare. A latest study led by an amphibian and reptile charity revealed that the British common toad numbers have dropped by half since 1985. Seeing a species that has been a stalwart of the UK landscape in decrease is described as "concerning" by experts. Toads "don't require very particular environments" and "ought to live quite well in most of habitats in the UK," so if even they are struggling to persist, "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 Traffic

Though the study didn't cover the reasons for the decline, traffic is a major factor. Estimates indicate that 20 tons of toads are crushed on UK roads every year – that is, several hundred thousand. In contrast to frogs, which would probably be happy to mate "with just a small container," toads favor big bodies of water. Their capacity to stay out of water for more time than frogs allows they can journey farther to find them – sometimes hundreds of metres. They tend to follow their ancestral migration routes – it's common for mature amphibians to go back to their natal pond to mate.

Migration Patterns

Fittingly, the first toads begin their quest for a partner around Valentine's day, but some move as late as spring, waiting until it gets dark and travelling through the night. During that period, toads begin migrating from wherever they have been overwintering "all pretty much at the same time."

A local helper, who was raised in the region 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 mate." If their path crosses a street, they could be killed by traffic, and that mating period would be lost – preventing a next generation of toads from being produced.

Rescue Groups Across the United Kingdom

Seeing many of toad carcasses on nearby streets "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has resulted in the formation of rescue teams throughout the UK – hundreds of organizations are officially listed with a national initiative. These teams pick up toads and transport them over streets in buckets, as well as recording the quantity of toads they find and lobbying for other safety solutions, such as blocked roads and amphibian passages.

Volunteers tend to operate during the migration season, when amphibian movements are more regular. However, this means they can overlook numbers of young toads, which, having existed as spawn and then juveniles, exit their ponds over an irregular timetable in the end of summer. Because of their size – just a couple of cm wide – "they can get obliterated by car traffic." And as being hit "essentially crushes them," it's harder to collect information on them. At least when mature amphibians are lost, their remains can be tallied.

Annual Work

Unlike most patrols, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth year of operating, go out year-round – not every night, but whenever weather are warm and wet, or if a member has reported about a toad sighting in their messaging app. When I request to accompany them on patrol, they concede it is "not a toady night" – toad hibernation season has started and it's been a arid period – but several of the volunteers 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 scaled a wire barrier to check under some wood.

Community Participation

The mother and son became part of the patrol a while back. The teenager loves all things wildlife and has an ambition to become a environmentalist, so his mother started to search for activities they could do jointly to protect native animals. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the middle-aged entrepreneur explains – so when the group was seeking a new manager recently, she volunteered for the role.

The youth, too, has been instrumental in the organization. A video he made, urging the municipal authority to close a street through a protected area during breeding time, influenced the outcome the team's way. After a year of campaigning, the authority approved an "access-only" restriction between evening and morning from February through to spring. Most drivers duly avoided the road.

Additional Species and Challenges

A few vehicles go by when I'm out on patrol and we discover some victims as a consequence – no amphibians, but three squashed newts. We spot one living newt as well, and the teenager 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 colder months. It appears that I couldn't have found any better success elsewhere in the country – all the patrol groups I reach out to explain that it's near-impossible at this season.

They project rescuing nearly 10,000 grown amphibians during migration

A message I get from another volunteer, who has generously taken the trouble to check for toads in a famous site, thought to be the largest accurately monitored toad population in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the title: "No toads." However, in February and March, he informs me, the group expects to help approximately 10,000 adult toads over the street.

Impact 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 evenings is quite extraordinary," notes an expert. "This effort that very much should be celebrated." However, while toad patrols are able to slow the decline, they cannot prevent it entirely – not least because vehicles is not the only threat.

Other Dangers

The global warming has meant extended spells of dry weather, which create the poor environment for some of the creatures that toads eat, such as worms and slugs, while higher water temperatures have led to an rise of blue-green algae, which can be harmful to toads. Milder winters also cause toads to wake up from their hibernation more frequently, disrupting the resource preservation crucial to their existence. Loss of environment – especially the loss of big water bodies – is another menace.

Researchers are "often concerned about overemphasizing practical benefits on biodiversity," however "There is a big value in just their presence." But toads do have an important role in the food chain, eating almost any invertebrates or small animals 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 toad tunnels – "we'll improve them for a wide range of additional wildlife."

Historical Importance

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