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It is a Friday night at half past seven, but rather than heading to the pub or relaxing at home, I've caught a train to a market town in Wiltshire to join volunteers from a toad patrol. These dedicated individuals give up their nights to protect the local toad population.

An Alarming Decline in Numbers

The Bufo bufo is becoming increasingly rare. A recent study conducted by an wildlife conservation group revealed that the British common toad numbers have almost halved since the mid-1980s. Seeing a creature that has been a fixture of the British countryside in decline is labeled "worrying" by experts. 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 indicates that the ecosystem is unbalanced."

The UK toad population has almost halved since 1985

The Danger from Traffic

Though the study didn't cover the causes for the decline, traffic is a major factor. Calculations suggest that 20 tons of toads are killed on British roads annually – in other words, several hundred thousand. Unlike frogs, which would probably be content to mate "with just a bucket of water," toads prefer big bodies of water. Their ability to remain away from water for longer than frogs means they can journey farther to find them – sometimes hundreds of metres. They usually follow their ancestral migration routes – it's typical for mature amphibians to go back to their birth pond to mate.

Migration Patterns

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

One volunteer, who was raised in the area and has been trying to protect its toad population since he was a boy, explains that "They've got just one focus: to go and mate." If their path happens to a road, they could all get run over, and that breeding season would never happen – stopping a new generation of toads from being produced.

Toad Patrols Across the UK

Seeing many of toad carcasses on nearby streets "resonates deeply with people," and has led to the creation of toad patrols across the UK – hundreds of organizations are officially listed with a national initiative. These groups collect toads and carry them across roads in buckets, as well as counting the quantity of toads they find and lobbying for other protection measures, such as blocked roads and underground wildlife tunnels.

Patrols tend to operate during the migration season, when toad crossings are frequent. However, this means they can miss groups of toadlets, which, having existed as eggs and then tadpoles, leave their ponds over an unpredictable schedule in the end of summer. Because of their size – just one or two centimetres wide – "they can get obliterated by vehicles." And as being hit "basically turns them into mush," it's harder to collect information on them. At least when adult toads are killed, their remains can be counted.

Year-Round Work

In contrast to many groups, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth season of operating, go out throughout the year – not nightly, but whenever weather are damp, or if a member has reported about a amphibian spotting in their messaging app. When I request to accompany them on duty, they admit it is "not ideal conditions" – toad hibernation season has started and it's been a dry day – but several of the volunteers willingly accept to walk up and down their route with me and search for any toads. "If anyone can find any toads tonight, those two will find one," says the patrol manager, pointing to her 14-year-old son and the longtime volunteer. We've been out for 120 minutes without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have climbed over a wire barrier to inspect beneath some wood.

Community Involvement

The family duo joined the group a year and a half ago. The youngster adores all things wildlife and has an ambition to become a environmentalist, so his mother started to search for things they could do together to help native animals. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the 41-year-old entrepreneur explains – so when the team was seeking a new manager lately, she decided to step up.

The teenager, too, has played an important role in the organization. A video he created, imploring the municipal authority to block a road through a protected area during migration season, influenced the outcome the team's way. After a year of lobbying, the authority approved an "restricted access" restriction between 5pm and 5am from February through to spring. The majority of motorists duly avoided the route.

Additional Species and Difficulties

Several cars go past when I'm out on duty and we discover some casualties as a consequence – no amphibians, but several crushed salamanders. We see one live amphibian as well, and the teenager is especially excited to see a daddy longlegs, which dances in his hands. Yet despite the team's hardest attempts to let me see a toad, the native community has obviously settled down for the winter. It seems that I couldn't have found any more luck elsewhere in the nation – all the patrol groups I contact explain that it's very difficult at this season.

They project rescuing nearly 10,000 grown amphibians during migration

One email I receive from a different helper, who has kindly made the effort to look for toads in a noted location, thought to be the biggest tracked toad population in the UK, reaches me with the subject line: "No toads." However, in late winter, he tells me, the group expects to help approximately ten thousand adult toads across the road.

Impact and Challenges

What level of impact can these groups truly achieve? "The reality that people are doing this regularly on chilly, wet and miserable evenings is remarkable," says an researcher. "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 not the only threat.

Additional Threats

The global warming has resulted in extended spells of drought, which create the poor environment for some of the creatures that toads consume, such as worms and slugs, while higher water temperatures have led to an rise of blue-green algae, which can be toxic to toads. Milder winters also lead toads to emerge from their dormancy more frequently, interfering with the energy conservation vital to their life cycle. Habitat destruction – especially the disappearance of large ponds – is another menace.

Experts are "always a bit worried about overemphasizing practical benefits on biodiversity," however "There is a big value in just their presence." But toads do have an important role in the ecosystem, consuming almost any invertebrates or small animals they can fit in their mouths and in turn sustaining a variety of birds and mammals, such as wildlife. Improving conditions for toads – ie creating more ponds, conserving woodland and installing amphibian passages – "we'll improve them for a whole bunch of other species."

Historical Significance

An additional motive to work to preserve toads around is their "important cultural value," adds an specialist. Legends and tales around toads date back {centuries|hundred