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It's Friday night at half past seven, but instead of going out or watching a film, I've taken a train to a market town in Wiltshire to join volunteers from a amphibian rescue group. These committed people sacrifice their nights to safeguard the native amphibian community.

A Worrying Decline in Population

The common toad is growing more rare. A latest research conducted by an wildlife conservation group showed that the British common toad numbers have dropped by half since the mid-1980s. Observing a species that has been a fixture of the British countryside in decrease is described as "worrying" by researchers. Toads "don't require very specific conditions" and "ought to live quite well in most of habitats in the UK," meaning 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 Danger from Traffic

Though the research didn't cover the reasons for the decline, cars certainly plays a part. Calculations indicate that 20 tonnes of toads are crushed on UK roads every year – in other words, several hundred thousand. In contrast to frogs, which might be happy to mate "if you left out a bucket of water," toads favor large ponds. Their ability to remain away from water for more time than frogs allows they can journey farther to find them – often long distances. They usually stick to their ancestral migration routes – it's common for adult toads to return to their birth pond to mate.

Migration Habits

Appropriately enough, the initial amphibians start their journey for a mate around February 14th, but others travel as late as spring, until it gets dark and moving through the night. During that time, toads start moving from where they have been hibernating "all pretty much at the same time."

A local helper, who was raised in the area and has been trying to protect its amphibians since he was a child, explains that "Their sole purpose: to go and have an orgy." If their route crosses a street, they could all get run over, and that mating period would be lost – stopping a new generation of toads from being produced.

Toad Patrols Throughout the United Kingdom

Seeing hundreds of dead toads on local roads "resonates deeply with people," and has led to the creation of toad patrols throughout the UK – hundreds of organizations are officially listed with a countrywide program. These groups collect toads and transport them over streets in buckets, as well as counting the number of toads they find and advocating for other protection measures, such as blocked roads and underground wildlife tunnels.

Patrols usually work during the migration season, when toad crossings are frequent. However, this means they can miss numbers of young toads, which, having been spawn and then juveniles, leave their ponds over an irregular timetable 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 harder to collect information on them. At least when adult toads are killed, their remains can be tallied.

Year-Round Work

In contrast to many groups, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth year of functioning, go out year-round – not every night, but when weather are warm and wet, or if someone has reported about a amphibian spotting in their messaging app. When I request to accompany them on duty, they concede it is "not ideal conditions" – toad hibernation season has begun and it's been a dry day – but a few of the volunteers gamely agree to walk up and down their route with me and see what we can find. "If anyone can find any toads tonight, that pair will spot one," says the group coordinator, indicating her teenage child and the experienced member. After for 120 minutes without a single toad sighting, and now they have scaled a barbed wire fence to check under some wood.

Family Participation

The mother and son joined the patrol a year and a half ago. The youngster adores all things nature-related 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 team was looking for a fresh coordinator recently, she decided to step up.

The youth, too, has played an important role in the group. A video he created, urging the municipal authority to block a street through a protected area during breeding time, swung the decision the team's way. After a year of campaigning, the authority agreed to an "access-only" rule between 5pm and 5am from February through to April. Most drivers respected and avoided the road.

Additional Species and Difficulties

Several cars go past when I'm out on patrol and we discover some victims as a result – no toads, but several crushed salamanders. We see one live amphibian 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 show me a toad, the local population has obviously gone dormant for the colder months. It appears that I wouldn't have had any better success elsewhere in the country – all the rescue teams I contact clarify that it's very difficult at this season.

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

One email I get from another volunteer, 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, reaches me with the title: "No toads." However, in February and March, he tells me, the team expects to help approximately 10,000 mature amphibians across the road.

Impact 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 late nights is remarkable," notes 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 – not least because traffic is just one danger.

Additional Threats

The global warming has resulted in extended spells of dry weather, which cause the wrong conditions for some of the creatures that toads eat, such as invertebrates, while warmer ponds have led to an increase of blue-green algae, which can be harmful to toads. Milder winters also lead toads to emerge from their hibernation more often, disrupting the resource preservation vital to their life cycle. Habitat destruction – particularly the loss of big water bodies – is an additional threat.

Researchers are "always a bit worried about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on biodiversity," but "It's important in just their presence." But toads do have an significant part in the ecosystem, eating pretty much any invertebrates or small animals they can fit in their mouths and in turn sustaining a variety of birds and mammals, such as wildlife. Enhancing situations for toads – such as building water habitats, conserving woodland and installing toad tunnels – "benefits for a whole bunch of additional wildlife."

Historical Importance

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