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It's a Friday evening at 7:30, but rather than heading to the pub or relaxing at home, I've taken a train to a town in Wiltshire to meet up with volunteers from a toad patrol. These dedicated individuals give up their nights to protect the native amphibian community.

A Worrying Decline in Population

The common toad is becoming increasingly rare. A recent research conducted by an wildlife conservation group showed that the British common toad numbers have almost halved since the mid-1980s. Seeing a species that has been a fixture of the British countryside in decline is described as "worrying" by researchers. Toads "don't require very specific conditions" and "should be able to live quite well in most of areas in the UK," meaning if even they are struggling to persist, "it kind of suggests that the ecosystem is unbalanced."

Toad populations across the UK have declined by almost 50% since the 1980s

The Danger from Roads

Though the research didn't examine the causes for the decline, traffic certainly plays a part. Estimates suggest that 20 tonnes of toads are crushed on UK roads every year – in other words, hundreds of thousands. In contrast to frogs, which would probably be content to mate "with just a bucket of water," toads favor big bodies of water. Their capacity to remain away from water for longer than frogs means they can travel further to reach them – sometimes long distances. They usually stick to their traditional paths – it's common for mature amphibians to return to their natal pond to mate.

Migration Habits

Fittingly, the first toads start their journey for a mate around February 14th, but others travel as far as April, waiting until it gets night and moving after sunset. During that period, toads begin migrating from wherever they have been hibernating "all pretty much at the same time."

A local helper, who grew up in the region and has been trying to protect its amphibians since he was a boy, explains that "They've got just one focus: to go and mate." If their route crosses a street, they could be killed by traffic, and that breeding season would never happen – preventing a next generation of toads from being produced.

Rescue Groups Across the United Kingdom

Finding many of toad carcasses on nearby streets "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has resulted in the formation of toad patrols throughout the UK – 274 groups are currently registered with a national initiative. These teams pick up toads and transport them across roads in containers, as well as recording the quantity of toads they encounter and lobbying for other protection measures, such as blocked roads and underground wildlife tunnels.

Volunteers tend to operate during the breeding period, when toad crossings are more regular. However, this means they can overlook numbers of young toads, which, having been eggs and then tadpoles, exit their water habitats 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 more difficult to get data on them. At least when mature amphibians are lost, their remains can be counted.

Year-Round Efforts

Unlike many groups, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth year of functioning, go out year-round – not every night, but whenever weather are warm and wet, or if someone has reported 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 volunteers gamely agree to walk up and down their area with me and see what we can find. "Should anyone can find any toads tonight, that pair will spot one," says the group coordinator, indicating her teenage child and the experienced member. We've been out for 120 minutes without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have scaled a wire barrier to check under some logs.

Family Involvement

The mother and son joined the group a while back. The teenager adores all things wildlife and has an ambition to become a environmentalist, so his mother started to look for things they could do together to protect native animals. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the 41-year-old entrepreneur tells me – so when the team was seeking a fresh coordinator recently, she decided to step up.

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, swung the decision the team's way. After a year of campaigning, the council approved an "access-only" restriction between evening and morning from February through to spring. The majority of motorists respected and avoided the road.

Additional Species and Difficulties

A few cars go by when I'm out on patrol and we find some casualties as a result – no toads, but several crushed salamanders. We see one living newt as well, and the youngster is especially excited to see a daddy longlegs, which dances in his hands. Yet despite the group's best efforts to let me see a toad, the native community has clearly settled down for the colder months. It seems that I couldn't have found any more luck elsewhere in the country – all the rescue teams I contact clarify that it's very difficult at this time of year.

This team anticipates assisting around ten thousand mature toads over the street

A message I get from a different helper, who has generously taken the trouble to check for toads in a noted location, thought to be the biggest tracked toad group in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the subject line: "None found." However, in February and March, he informs me, the team expects to help approximately 10,000 mature amphibians across the road.

Effectiveness and Challenges

How much of a difference can these groups actually make? "The fact that volunteers are performing this consistently on cold, damp and unpleasant late nights is remarkable," says an expert. "That's something that very much deserves recognition." However, while rescue teams are able to reduce the drop, they cannot prevent it entirely – partly since traffic is not the only threat.

Additional Threats

The global warming has meant extended spells of dry weather, which create the poor environment for some of the creatures that toads consume, such as worms and slugs, while warmer ponds have caused an increase of blue-green algae, which can be toxic to toads. Warmer cold seasons also cause toads to emerge from their dormancy more frequently, disrupting the resource preservation crucial to their existence. Loss of environment – especially the loss of big water bodies – is another menace.

Experts are "often concerned about overemphasizing practical benefits on biodiversity," however "It's important in just their presence." But toads play an important role in the food chain, eating pretty much any small creatures or small animals they can fit in their mouths and in turn sustaining a number of birds and mammals, such as wildlife. Enhancing situations for toads – ie building water habitats, protecting forests and constructing amphibian passages – "we'll improve them for a wide range of additional wildlife."

Cultural Importance

Another reason to work to preserve toads around is their "important cultural value," notes an expert. Legends and tales around toads go back {centuries|hundred