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It is Friday night 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 Wiltshire to meet up with volunteers from a toad patrol. These committed people give up their evenings to safeguard the native amphibian community.

A Worrying Decline in Population

The Bufo bufo is becoming increasingly rare. A recent research led by an wildlife conservation group showed that the British common toad numbers have almost halved since the mid-1980s. Seeing a creature that has been a stalwart of the British countryside in decline is labeled "concerning" by experts. Toads "don't require very particular environments" and "should be able to live quite well in the majority of habitats in the UK," meaning if even they are struggling to persist, "it kind of suggests that the ecosystem is unbalanced."

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

The Danger from Traffic

Though the study didn't cover the reasons for the drop, traffic certainly plays a part. Calculations suggest that 20 tons of toads are crushed on UK 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 favor big bodies of water. Their ability to remain away from water for longer than frogs allows they can travel further to reach them – sometimes hundreds of metres. They usually stick to their ancestral migration routes – it's common for mature amphibians to go back to their natal pond to mate.

Breeding Habits

Appropriately enough, the initial amphibians begin their quest for a mate around Valentine's day, but others travel as late as April, waiting until it gets night and travelling after sunset. During that period, toads start moving from wherever they have been hibernating "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 crosses a road, 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 UK

Seeing many of toad carcasses on nearby streets "resonates deeply with people," and has resulted in the formation of toad patrols throughout the UK – 274 groups are officially listed with a national initiative. These groups pick up toads and carry them over streets in containers, as well as recording the number of toads they find and lobbying for other safety solutions, such as road closures and amphibian passages.

Patrols usually work during the migration season, when toad crossings are more regular. However, this means they can overlook numbers of young toads, which, having existed as eggs and then juveniles, exit their ponds over an irregular timetable in late summer. Because of their size – just a couple of cm wide – "they are destroyed by vehicles." And as being run over "basically turns them into mush," it's harder to get data on them. At least when adult toads are lost, their remains can be tallied.

Year-Round Efforts

Unlike many groups, one local team, who are in their eighth year of operating, go out year-round – not every night, but when conditions are damp, or if a member has posted about a amphibian spotting in their group chat. When I request to accompany them on duty, they concede it is "not a toady night" – toad hibernation season has started and it's been a dry day – but a few of the helpers willingly accept to walk up and down their route with me and search for any toads. "Should anyone can find 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 two hours without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have climbed over a wire barrier to check under some logs.

Family Involvement

The mother and son joined the patrol a year and a half ago. The teenager 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 local wildlife. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the 41-year-old small business owner explains – so when the group was looking for a fresh coordinator recently, she volunteered for the role.

The teenager, too, has played an important role in the group. A video he made, urging the municipal authority to close a road through a nature reserve during migration season, influenced the outcome the team's way. After a year of lobbying, the authority agreed to an "access-only" restriction between evening and morning from February through to spring. Most drivers respected and avoided the road.

Additional Species and Difficulties

Several cars go by when I'm out on patrol and we discover some casualties as a consequence – no toads, but several crushed salamanders. We spot one living newt as well, and the teenager is particularly pleased to see a harvestman, which dances in his palms. Yet despite the group's hardest attempts to let me see a toad, the local population has obviously gone dormant for the winter. It appears that I couldn't have found any better success elsewhere in the nation – all the rescue teams I reach out to explain 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 get from another volunteer, who has kindly made the effort to look for toads in a famous site, considered the biggest tracked toad population in the UK, reaches me with the subject line: "No toads." However, in February and March, he informs me, the group expects to help around ten thousand adult toads across the road.

Effectiveness and Limitations

What level of impact can these groups truly achieve? "The fact that volunteers are performing this consistently on chilly, wet and miserable evenings is quite extraordinary," notes an researcher. "That's something that very much deserves recognition." However, while toad patrols are able to reduce the drop, they can't stop it completely – not least because vehicles is just one danger.

Other Dangers

The global warming has meant longer periods of dry weather, which create the wrong conditions for some of the creatures that toads eat, such as invertebrates, while warmer ponds have caused an increase of blue-green algae, which can be toxic to toads. Warmer cold seasons also lead toads to wake up from their dormancy more frequently, interfering with the resource preservation vital to their life cycle. Loss of environment – particularly the loss of big water bodies – is an additional threat.

Experts are "often concerned about overemphasizing practical benefits on wildlife," but "It's important in just having these animals around." But toads do have an significant part in the ecosystem, eating almost any invertebrates or small animals they can swallow and in turn sustaining a number of predators, such as hedgehogs and otters. Enhancing conditions for toads – such as building water habitats, conserving woodland and installing toad tunnels – "benefits for a wide range of additional wildlife."

Historical Importance

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