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

An Alarming Decline in Population

The common toad is growing more rare. A recent research led by an amphibian and reptile charity showed that the UK toad population have almost halved since the mid-1980s. Seeing a species that has been a fixture of the UK landscape in decline is described as "concerning" by researchers. Toads "don't need very particular environments" and "ought to live quite well in the majority of habitats in the UK," so if even they are struggling to persist, "it indicates that things are not as they should be."

Since 1985, Britain's toad numbers have nearly been cut in half

The Threat from Traffic

Though the research didn't examine the reasons for the decline, cars is a major factor. Calculations indicate that 20 tons of toads are crushed on British roads annually – that is, hundreds of thousands. Unlike 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 journey farther to reach them – sometimes long distances. They usually follow their traditional paths – it's typical for mature amphibians to return to their birth pond to mate.

Breeding Habits

Appropriately enough, the first toads begin their quest for a mate around February 14th, but others travel as far as spring, waiting until it gets dark and moving through the night. During that period, toads start moving from where they have been hibernating "almost simultaneously."

A local helper, who was raised in the area and has been trying to protect its amphibians since he was a boy, notes that "They've got just one focus: to go and have an orgy." If their route happens to a street, they could be killed by traffic, and that breeding season would be lost – preventing a next generation of toads from being born.

Toad Patrols Across the UK

Finding many of dead toads on local roads "resonates deeply with people," and has resulted in the formation of toad patrols throughout the UK – 274 groups are currently registered with a countrywide program. These teams pick up toads and transport them across roads in containers, as well as recording the number of toads they encounter and lobbying for other protection measures, such as blocked roads and amphibian passages.

Volunteers usually work during the migration season, when amphibian movements are frequent. However, this implies they can overlook numbers of young toads, which, having existed as spawn and then juveniles, leave their ponds over an irregular timetable in the end of summer. Because of their size – just one or two centimetres wide – "they can get obliterated by vehicles." And as being run over "essentially crushes them," it's more difficult to collect information on them. At least when mature amphibians are lost, their remains can be tallied.

Annual Work

Unlike many groups, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth year of operating, go out year-round – not nightly, but when conditions are damp, or if someone has posted about a toad sighting in their group chat. When I ask to join them on duty, they admit it is "not ideal conditions" – winter dormancy has begun and it's been a arid period – but several of the volunteers gamely agree to patrol their area with me and search for any toads. "Should anyone can find any toads tonight, that pair will find one," says the group coordinator, indicating her 14-year-old son and the experienced member. After for 120 minutes without a single toad sighting, and now they have scaled a wire barrier to inspect beneath some wood.

Family Participation

The family duo joined the group a year and a half ago. The youngster adores all things nature-related and has an goal to become a environmentalist, so his mother started to search for things they could do jointly to protect native animals. Now she loves it as much as he does, the 41-year-old entrepreneur tells me – so when the group was seeking a new manager recently, she decided to step up.

The teenager, too, has been instrumental in the organization. A video he created, imploring the local council to block a road through a nature reserve during breeding time, influenced the outcome the team's way. After a twelve months of lobbying, the council agreed to an "restricted access" rule between 5pm and 5am from February through to spring. The majority of motorists duly avoided the road.

Additional Species and Challenges

Several cars go by when I'm out on patrol and we discover some casualties as a consequence – no amphibians, but several crushed salamanders. We spot one live amphibian as well, and the youngster is particularly pleased to see a harvestman, which moves in his palms. Yet despite the team's best efforts to show me a toad, the local population has clearly settled down for the colder months. It seems that I couldn't have found any more luck elsewhere in the nation – all the rescue teams I reach out to clarify that it's near-impossible at this season.

The group expects to help approximately 10,000 adult toads across the road

A message I receive from a different helper, who has generously made the effort to check for toads in a noted location, considered the biggest tracked toad population in the UK, reaches me with the subject line: "No toads." However, in February and March, he tells me, the team expects to help approximately 10,000 adult toads over the street.

Impact and Limitations

What level of impact can these groups actually make? "The fact that people are doing this regularly on chilly, wet and miserable evenings is quite extraordinary," 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 – partly since traffic is not the only threat.

Additional Threats

The climate crisis has resulted in extended spells of dry weather, which create the poor environment for some of the creatures that toads eat, such as invertebrates, while higher water temperatures have led to an increase of toxic plants, which can be harmful to toads. Warmer cold seasons also cause toads to emerge from their dormancy more frequently, interfering with the resource preservation crucial to their life cycle. Habitat destruction – particularly the disappearance of big water bodies – is an additional threat.

Experts are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on biodiversity," however "There is a big value in just their presence." But toads play an significant part in the food chain, consuming almost any invertebrates or small animals they can swallow and in turn sustaining a number of birds and mammals, such as hedgehogs and otters. Improving conditions for toads – ie creating more ponds, protecting forests and installing amphibian passages – "we'll improve them for a wide range of other species."

Historical Significance

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