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It is Friday night at half past seven, but rather than going out or watching a film, I've caught a train to a town in the countryside to join volunteers from a toad patrol. These dedicated individuals give up their nights to protect the local toad population.

An Alarming Drop in Population

The common toad is growing more rare. A latest study conducted by an amphibian and reptile charity showed that the UK toad population have almost halved since 1985. Observing a creature that has been a fixture of the UK landscape in decline is labeled "concerning" by experts. Toads "don't need very specific conditions" and "should be able to live quite well in the majority of areas in Britain," so if even they are not managing to survive, "it kind of suggests that things are not as they should be."

The UK toad population has almost halved since 1985

The Threat from Roads

Though the research didn't examine the reasons for the decline, traffic is a major factor. Estimates suggest that 20 tonnes of toads are killed on British roads every year – in other words, hundreds of thousands. In contrast to frogs, which might be happy to mate "with just a small container," toads prefer big bodies of water. Their ability to stay out of water for more time than frogs means they can travel further to reach them – sometimes long distances. They usually follow their ancestral migration routes – it's typical for adult toads to return to their birth pond to mate.

Breeding Habits

Appropriately enough, the first toads start their journey for a mate around Valentine's day, but some move as late as spring, until it gets dark and travelling through the night. During that time, toads begin migrating from where they have been hibernating "almost simultaneously."

A local helper, who was raised in the area and has been trying to protect its toad population since he was a child, explains that "Their sole purpose: to go and mate." If their path happens to a street, they could be killed by traffic, and that breeding season would never happen – preventing a new generation of toads from being born.

Rescue Groups Across the UK

Seeing many of toad carcasses on local roads "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has resulted in the formation of rescue teams across the UK – hundreds of organizations are currently registered with a national initiative. These teams collect toads and carry them across roads in containers, as well as recording the quantity of toads they find 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 frequent. However, this means they can miss numbers 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 more difficult to get data on them. At least when adult toads are killed, their remains can be counted.

Annual Work

Unlike 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 toad sighting in their messaging app. When I ask to join them on patrol, they admit it is "not a toady night" – toad hibernation season has begun and it's been a dry day – but several of the volunteers willingly accept to patrol their area with me and see what we can find. "Should anyone can locate any toads tonight, that pair will find one," says the patrol manager, 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 climbed over a barbed wire fence to inspect beneath some wood.

Family Participation

The mother and son joined the group a while back. The teenager loves all things nature-related and has an goal to become a environmentalist, so his parent started to look for things they could do jointly to protect native animals. Now she loves it as much as he does, the 41-year-old entrepreneur explains – so when the group was looking for a fresh coordinator lately, she volunteered for the role.

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

Additional Species and Difficulties

Several cars go by when I'm out on patrol and we find some casualties as a consequence – no amphibians, but three squashed newts. We spot one live amphibian as well, and the teenager is especially excited to see a daddy longlegs, which moves in his palms. Yet in spite of the group's best efforts to show me a toad, the local population has obviously settled down for the winter. It appears that I wouldn't have had any better success elsewhere in the nation – all the patrol groups I contact clarify that it's near-impossible at this season.

They project rescuing nearly 10,000 grown amphibians during migration

A message I get from a different helper, who has kindly taken the trouble to check for toads in a famous site, thought to be the largest accurately monitored toad population in the UK, reaches me with the subject line: "No toads." However, in February and March, he informs me, the group plans to assist approximately 10,000 mature amphibians across the road.

Impact and Challenges

How much of a difference can these organizations truly achieve? "The fact that volunteers are performing this regularly on cold, damp and unpleasant late nights is remarkable," says an researcher. "That's something that very much deserves recognition." However, while toad patrols are able to reduce the drop, they can't stop it completely – not least because traffic is not the only threat.

Other Dangers

The climate crisis has resulted in extended spells of drought, which cause the wrong conditions for some of the animals that toads consume, such as invertebrates, while higher water temperatures have caused an increase of blue-green algae, which can be harmful to toads. Warmer cold seasons also lead toads to wake up from their hibernation more frequently, interfering with the resource preservation crucial to their life cycle. Loss of environment – particularly the disappearance of big water bodies – is another menace.

Experts are "always a bit worried about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on biodiversity," however "There is a big value in just their presence." But toads do have an important role in the ecosystem, eating pretty much any small creatures or tiny organisms they can swallow and in turn feeding a variety of birds and mammals, such as wildlife. Enhancing conditions for toads – ie creating more ponds, protecting forests and installing toad tunnels – "we'll improve them for a whole bunch of other species."

Historical Significance

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