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It's Friday night at half past seven, but rather than going out 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 committed people give up their evenings to protect the local toad population.

A Worrying Drop in Numbers

The Bufo bufo is becoming increasingly uncommon. A latest study led by an wildlife conservation group revealed that the British common toad numbers have dropped by half since 1985. Observing a species that has been a fixture of the British countryside in decline is labeled "worrying" by researchers. Toads "don't require very particular environments" and "ought to live successfully in most of habitats in Britain," meaning if even they are not managing to survive, "it kind of suggests that things are not as they should be."

The UK toad population has almost halved since 1985

The Threat from Roads

Though the study didn't examine the reasons for the decline, traffic is a major factor. Calculations suggest that 20 tonnes of toads are killed on British roads annually – that is, several hundred thousand. In contrast to frogs, which would probably be content to mate "with just a bucket of water," toads prefer big bodies of water. Their capacity to stay out of water for more time than frogs allows they can travel further to find them – sometimes hundreds of metres. They tend to follow their ancestral migration routes – it's common for mature amphibians to return to their natal pond to mate.

Migration Habits

Appropriately enough, the initial amphibians begin their quest for a partner around Valentine's day, but some move as late as spring, waiting until it gets night and travelling through the night. During that time, toads begin migrating from where they have been hibernating "all pretty much at the same time."

One volunteer, who was raised in the area and has been working to save its amphibians since he was a child, explains that "They've got just one focus: to go and mate." If their path 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 Across the United Kingdom

Seeing hundreds of dead toads on local roads "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has led to the creation of toad patrols throughout the UK – 274 groups are officially listed with a national initiative. These groups pick up toads and transport them over streets in buckets, as well as counting the quantity of toads they encounter and lobbying for other safety solutions, such as road closures and underground wildlife tunnels.

Patrols tend to operate during the breeding period, when amphibian movements are frequent. However, this means they can overlook groups of young toads, which, having existed as spawn and then tadpoles, leave their ponds over an unpredictable schedule in late summer. Because of their small stature – just one or two centimetres wide – "they are destroyed by vehicles." And as being run over "essentially crushes them," it's harder to get data on them. At least when adult toads are lost, their carcasses can be tallied.

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 whenever weather are warm and wet, or if someone has posted about a amphibian spotting in their messaging app. When I ask to join them on patrol, they concede it is "not a toady night" – toad hibernation season has begun and it's been a arid period – but several of the helpers willingly accept to walk up and down their route with me and see what we can find. "Should anyone can locate any toads tonight, that pair will find one," says the patrol manager, pointing to her teenage child and the longtime volunteer. After for two hours without a single toad sighting, 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 teenager loves all things nature-related and has an ambition to become a environmentalist, so his mother started to search for activities they could do together to protect native animals. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the middle-aged entrepreneur explains – so when the team was seeking a fresh coordinator lately, she decided to step up.

The teenager, too, has been instrumental in the group. A video he created, imploring the municipal authority to close a road 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" rule between 5pm and 5am from February through to April. The majority of motorists duly avoided the road.

Additional Species and Challenges

A few vehicles go past when I'm out on patrol and we find some casualties as a result – no toads, but three squashed newts. We see one live amphibian as well, and the youngster is particularly pleased to see a daddy longlegs, which moves in his palms. Yet despite the team's hardest attempts to show me a toad, the local population has obviously gone dormant for the winter. It appears that I wouldn't have had any better success elsewhere in the country – all the patrol groups I reach out to clarify 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 generously made the effort to look for toads in a noted location, considered the largest accurately monitored toad group in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the subject line: "None found." However, in late winter, he tells me, the group expects to help approximately 10,000 adult toads over the street.

Effectiveness and Limitations

How much of a difference can these organizations actually make? "The fact that volunteers are performing this regularly on chilly, wet and miserable evenings is remarkable," notes an expert. "This effort that very much deserves recognition." However, while rescue teams are able to reduce the drop, they cannot prevent it entirely – partly since vehicles is not the only threat.

Other Dangers

The global warming has resulted in extended spells of dry weather, which cause the wrong conditions for some of the creatures 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 dormancy more often, disrupting the energy conservation crucial to their existence. Habitat destruction – especially the loss of large ponds – is another menace.

Researchers are "always a bit worried about overemphasizing practical benefits on biodiversity," but "It's important in just their presence." But toads play an important role in the food chain, consuming almost any invertebrates or small animals they can swallow and in turn feeding a variety of predators, such as hedgehogs and otters. Improving conditions for toads – ie building water habitats, conserving woodland and constructing amphibian passages – "benefits for a whole bunch of other species."

Historical Importance

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