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It's Friday night at half past seven, but rather than heading to the pub or watching a film, I've caught a train to a market town in Wiltshire to join volunteers from a toad patrol. These committed people give up their evenings to protect the local toad population.

An Alarming Drop in Numbers

The Bufo bufo is becoming increasingly uncommon. A latest study led by an wildlife conservation group showed that the British common toad numbers have dropped by half since the mid-1980s. Seeing a creature that has been a fixture of the British countryside in decrease is labeled "worrying" by researchers. Toads "don't need very specific conditions" 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 indicates that things are not as they should be."

The UK toad population has almost halved since 1985

The Danger from Traffic

Though the study didn't examine the reasons for the decline, traffic certainly plays a part. Calculations suggest that 20 tonnes of toads are crushed on British roads annually – in other words, several hundred thousand. In contrast to frogs, which would probably be happy to mate "if you left out a bucket of water," toads prefer big bodies of water. Their capacity to remain away from water for more time than frogs means they can journey farther to find them – often hundreds of metres. They tend to follow their traditional paths – it's typical for adult toads to go back to their birth pond to mate.

Breeding Habits

Fittingly, the first toads start their journey 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 hibernating "almost simultaneously."

A local helper, who grew up in the area and has been working to save its toad population since he was a child, notes that "Their sole purpose: to go and have an orgy." If their path happens to a street, they could be killed by traffic, and that mating period would be lost – preventing a new generation of toads from being born.

Rescue Groups Across the United Kingdom

Finding hundreds of dead toads on local roads "resonates deeply with people," and has led to the formation of toad patrols across the UK – 274 groups are officially listed with a national initiative. These teams pick up toads and carry them over streets in buckets, as well as counting the number of toads they encounter and lobbying for other protection measures, such as blocked roads and amphibian passages.

Patrols usually work during the breeding period, when amphibian movements are more regular. However, this means they can overlook numbers of young toads, which, having been spawn and then juveniles, exit their water habitats over an unpredictable schedule in late summer. Because of their small stature – just a couple of cm wide – "they are destroyed by car traffic." 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 remains can be counted.

Year-Round Work

In contrast to most patrols, one local team, who are in their eighth year of operating, go out year-round – not every night, but when conditions are warm and wet, or if someone has reported about a amphibian spotting in their group chat. When I request to accompany them on duty, they admit it is "not a toady night" – winter dormancy has started and it's been a arid period – but several of the helpers willingly accept to patrol their route with me and search for any toads. "Should anyone can find any toads tonight, that pair will find one," says the patrol manager, indicating her 14-year-old son and the longtime volunteer. We've been out for two hours without a single toad sighting, and now they have scaled a barbed wire fence to inspect beneath some logs.

Family Involvement

The family duo became part of the patrol a year and a half ago. The teenager loves all things nature-related and has an ambition to become a conservationist, so his parent started to look for things they could do jointly to help local wildlife. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the middle-aged small business owner tells me – so when the team was seeking a fresh coordinator recently, she decided to step up.

The youth, too, has played an important role in the organization. A clip he created, imploring the municipal authority to block a road through a protected area during breeding time, influenced the outcome the team's way. After a twelve months of lobbying, the council approved an "access-only" rule between 5pm and 5am from February through to April. The majority of motorists respected and avoided the route.

Additional Species and Challenges

Several cars go past when I'm out on patrol and we discover 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 moves in his hands. Yet in spite of the team's best efforts to let me see a toad, the native community has clearly settled down for the winter. It seems that I wouldn't have had any more luck anywhere else in the country – all the rescue teams I contact clarify 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 another volunteer, who has kindly made the effort to look for toads in a noted location, considered the biggest tracked toad population in the UK, reaches me with the subject line: "None found." However, in late winter, he tells me, the group plans to assist approximately ten thousand mature amphibians over the street.

Effectiveness and Challenges

How much of a difference can these groups truly achieve? "The reality that volunteers are doing this consistently on chilly, wet and miserable late nights is quite extraordinary," says an expert. "This effort that very much deserves recognition." However, while toad patrols are able to reduce the drop, they can't stop it completely – partly since traffic is just one danger.

Additional Threats

The global warming has meant extended spells of dry weather, which cause the wrong conditions for some of the creatures that toads consume, such as invertebrates, while higher water temperatures have led to an increase of blue-green algae, which can be harmful to toads. Warmer cold seasons also lead toads to emerge from their hibernation more frequently, interfering with the energy conservation crucial to their existence. Loss of environment – especially the loss of large ponds – is another menace.

Experts are "often concerned about overemphasizing practical benefits on biodiversity," however "It's important in just having these animals around." But toads do have an important role in the food chain, consuming almost any small creatures or tiny organisms they can fit in their mouths and in turn feeding a number of predators, such as hedgehogs and otters. Enhancing conditions for toads – ie building water habitats, conserving woodland and installing toad tunnels – "benefits for a whole bunch of additional wildlife."

Cultural Significance

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