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It is a Friday evening at 7:30, but instead of heading to the pub or watching a film, I've caught a train to a market town in the countryside to join volunteers from a amphibian rescue group. These committed people sacrifice their evenings to protect the local toad population.

An Alarming Drop in Population

The common toad is growing more uncommon. A latest research led by an amphibian and reptile charity revealed that the British common toad numbers have dropped by half since the mid-1980s. Seeing a species that has been a stalwart of the UK landscape in decrease is described as "worrying" by experts. Toads "don't require very specific conditions" and "should be able to live quite well in the majority of areas in Britain," so if even they are struggling to persist, "it indicates that things are not as they should be."

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

The Danger from Roads

Though the study didn't cover the causes for the drop, cars certainly plays a part. Estimates suggest that 20 tons of toads are killed on British roads annually – that is, hundreds of thousands. In contrast to frogs, which might be happy to mate "with just a bucket of water," toads favor big bodies of water. Their capacity to stay out of water for more time than frogs means they can travel further to reach them – often long distances. They tend to stick to their ancestral migration routes – it's common for adult toads to return to their birth pond to mate.

Breeding Habits

Appropriately enough, the initial amphibians begin their quest for a mate around February 14th, but some move as far as spring, until it gets dark and travelling through the night. During that time, toads start moving from where they have been hibernating "almost simultaneously."

One volunteer, who grew up in the region and has been trying to protect its toad population since he was a child, notes that "Their sole purpose: to go and mate." If their path crosses a road, they could be killed by traffic, and that breeding season would never happen – preventing a next generation of toads from being born.

Toad Patrols Across the United Kingdom

Finding many of toad carcasses on local roads "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has led to the formation of rescue teams throughout the UK – hundreds of organizations are officially listed with a countrywide program. These groups pick up toads and transport them over streets in containers, as well as counting the number of toads they find and lobbying for other safety solutions, such as blocked roads and underground wildlife tunnels.

Patrols tend to operate during the breeding period, when toad crossings are more regular. However, this implies they can overlook groups of toadlets, which, having been spawn and then tadpoles, exit their ponds over an irregular timetable in the end of summer. Because of their small stature – just one or two centimetres wide – "they can get obliterated by vehicles." And as being hit "essentially crushes them," it's more difficult to collect information on them. At least when adult toads are lost, their remains can be tallied.

Annual Efforts

Unlike many groups, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth season of functioning, go out throughout the year – not nightly, but when conditions are warm and wet, or if someone has posted about a toad sighting in their group chat. When I request to accompany them on patrol, they concede it is "not ideal conditions" – winter dormancy has started and it's been a arid period – but a few of the volunteers willingly accept to patrol their area with me and see what we can find. "Should anyone can locate any toads tonight, those two will spot one," says the patrol manager, 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 Involvement

The mother and son 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 mother started to search for things they could do jointly to protect native animals. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the 41-year-old entrepreneur tells me – so when the group was seeking a fresh coordinator recently, she decided to step up.

The youth, too, has been instrumental in the organization. A clip he created, imploring the municipal authority to close a street through a protected area during migration season, swung the decision the group's way. After a twelve months of lobbying, the council approved an "access-only" rule between 5pm and 5am from late winter through to April. The majority of motorists duly avoided the route.

Other Wildlife and Difficulties

Several cars go past when I'm out on duty 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 particularly pleased to see a daddy longlegs, which dances in his palms. Yet in spite of the team's hardest attempts to show me a toad, the local population has obviously settled down for the colder months. It seems that I wouldn't have had any better success anywhere else in the nation – all the rescue teams I reach out to clarify that it's near-impossible at this time of year.

They project rescuing nearly 10,000 grown amphibians during migration

A message I receive from a different helper, who has kindly taken the trouble to check for toads in a noted location, thought to be the largest accurately monitored toad population in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the title: "None found." However, in late winter, he tells me, the group expects to help approximately 10,000 adult toads over the street.

Impact and Limitations

How much of a difference can these organizations actually make? "The fact that people are doing this regularly on cold, damp and unpleasant evenings is remarkable," says an researcher. "This effort that very much deserves recognition." However, while rescue teams are able to reduce the drop, they can't stop it completely – not least because vehicles is just one danger.

Additional Threats

The global warming has meant extended spells of dry weather, which create the poor environment for some of the animals that toads eat, 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 life cycle. Loss of environment – especially the disappearance of large ponds – is an additional threat.

Experts are "always a bit worried about overemphasizing practical benefits on biodiversity," but "It's important in just having these animals around." But toads play an significant part in the food chain, eating pretty much any invertebrates or tiny organisms they can fit in their mouths and in turn feeding a number of birds and mammals, such as hedgehogs and otters. Improving conditions for toads – ie building water habitats, protecting forests and installing amphibian passages – "benefits for a wide range of additional wildlife."

Cultural Significance

An additional motive to work to preserve toads present is their "historical significance," notes an specialist. Myths and folklore around toads go back {centuries|hundred