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It's Friday evening at half past seven, but rather than going out or relaxing at home, I've taken a train to a market town in the countryside to meet up with volunteers from a amphibian rescue group. These dedicated individuals sacrifice their nights to protect the native amphibian community.

An Alarming Decline in Numbers

The Bufo bufo is growing more uncommon. A recent study led by an wildlife conservation group showed that the British common toad numbers have almost halved since 1985. Seeing a species that has been a fixture of the UK landscape in decline is described as "concerning" by experts. Toads "don't require very particular environments" and "ought to live quite well in the majority of areas in Britain," so if even they are not managing to survive, "it indicates that the ecosystem is unbalanced."

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

The Threat from Traffic

Though the study didn't examine the causes for the drop, traffic is a major factor. Estimates suggest that 20 tonnes of toads are crushed on UK roads every year – in other words, hundreds of thousands. In contrast to frogs, which might be happy to mate "if you left out 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 tend to follow their traditional paths – it's common for adult toads to return to their natal pond to mate.

Breeding Patterns

Fittingly, the first toads start their journey for a mate around Valentine's day, but some move as late as April, until it gets dark and moving through the night. During that time, toads start moving from wherever they have been hibernating "all pretty much at the same time."

A local helper, who was raised in the area and has been working to save its toad population since he was a child, explains that "They've got just one focus: to go and mate." If their route happens to a road, they could all get run over, and that mating period would be lost – stopping a next generation of toads from being produced.

Rescue Groups Throughout the United Kingdom

Seeing hundreds of dead toads on local roads "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has resulted in the creation of toad patrols across the UK – hundreds of organizations are officially listed with a countrywide program. These teams pick up toads and transport them over streets in containers, as well as counting the number of toads they encounter and lobbying for other protection measures, such as blocked roads and underground wildlife tunnels.

Volunteers usually work during the migration season, when amphibian movements are more regular. However, this means they can miss numbers of toadlets, which, having existed as spawn and then tadpoles, exit their water habitats over an irregular timetable in late summer. Because of their size – just a couple of cm wide – "they can get obliterated by car traffic." And as being hit "essentially crushes them," it's harder to get data on them. At least when mature amphibians are lost, their carcasses can be counted.

Annual Efforts

Unlike most patrols, one local team, who are in their eighth year of functioning, go out year-round – not nightly, but when conditions are warm and wet, or if a member has posted about a toad sighting in their messaging app. When I ask to join them on patrol, they admit it is "not a toady night" – winter dormancy has started and it's been a dry day – but a few of the helpers gamely agree to patrol their route with me and see what we can find. "If anyone can locate any toads tonight, those two will spot one," says the patrol manager, pointing to her teenage child and the experienced member. We've been out for two hours without a single toad sighting, and now they have scaled a barbed wire fence to inspect beneath some logs.

Community Participation

The mother and son joined the patrol a while back. The youngster loves all things wildlife and has an ambition to become a conservationist, so his mother started to look for things they could do together to protect local wildlife. Now she loves it as much as he does, the middle-aged small business owner explains – so when the team was seeking a fresh coordinator lately, she decided to step up.

The teenager, too, has played an important role in the group. A video he made, urging the municipal authority to close a street through a nature reserve during breeding time, swung the decision the team's way. After a twelve months of campaigning, the council approved an "restricted access" restriction between 5pm and 5am from late winter through to April. The majority of motorists duly avoided the route.

Additional Species and Challenges

Several cars go past when I'm out on patrol and we find some victims as a result – no amphibians, but three squashed newts. We see one live amphibian as well, and the youngster is particularly pleased to see a harvestman, which dances in his hands. Yet despite the group's hardest attempts to show me a toad, the local population has clearly gone dormant for the winter. It appears that I couldn't have found any better success elsewhere in the country – all the patrol groups I reach out to clarify that it's near-impossible at this season.

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

One email I get from a different helper, who has kindly made the effort to check for toads in a noted location, thought to be the biggest tracked toad population in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the title: "None found." However, in February and March, he informs me, the team expects to help around ten thousand mature amphibians over the street.

Effectiveness and Challenges

What level of impact can these organizations truly achieve? "The reality that people are doing this consistently on chilly, wet and miserable evenings is remarkable," notes an expert. "That's something that very much deserves recognition." However, while toad patrols are able to slow the decline, they can't stop it completely – not least because traffic is not the only threat.

Other Dangers

The global warming has resulted in extended spells of dry weather, which create the poor environment for some of the creatures that toads consume, such as invertebrates, while warmer ponds have led to an increase of toxic plants, which can be harmful to toads. Warmer cold seasons also lead toads to wake up from their hibernation more frequently, disrupting the resource preservation crucial to their existence. Loss of environment – especially the loss of large ponds – is another menace.

Experts are "always a bit worried about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on wildlife," however "There is a big value in just having these animals around." But toads do have an significant part in the food chain, consuming pretty much any invertebrates or small animals they can fit in their mouths and in turn sustaining a number of birds and mammals, such as hedgehogs and otters. Improving conditions for toads – such as creating more ponds, protecting forests and installing amphibian passages – "we'll improve them for a wide range of other species."

Historical Importance

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