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It's Friday night at 7:30, but rather than heading to the pub or relaxing at home, I've taken a train to a market town in Wiltshire to join volunteers from a toad patrol. These committed people sacrifice their nights to protect the local toad population.

A Worrying Decline in Numbers

The common toad is growing more uncommon. A recent research conducted by an wildlife conservation group revealed that the British common toad numbers have dropped by half since 1985. Observing a species that has been a stalwart of the British countryside in decline is labeled "concerning" by experts. Toads "don't require very particular environments" and "should be able to live successfully in the majority of habitats in the UK," meaning if even they are struggling to persist, "it kind of suggests that the ecosystem is unbalanced."

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

The Danger from Traffic

Though the study didn't examine the causes for the decline, traffic certainly plays a part. Calculations suggest that 20 tons of toads are crushed on British roads every year – in other words, hundreds of thousands. Unlike frogs, which might be happy to mate "with just a small container," toads favor big bodies of water. Their capacity to stay out of water for longer than frogs allows they can journey farther to find them – often long distances. They tend to stick to their traditional paths – it's common for adult toads to return to their birth pond to mate.

Migration Habits

Appropriately enough, the first toads begin their quest for a mate around Valentine's day, but some move as late as April, until it gets night and moving after sunset. During that period, toads start moving from where they have been overwintering "almost simultaneously."

One volunteer, who was raised in the region 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 path happens to a street, they could all get run over, and that mating period would never happen – preventing a next generation of toads from being born.

Toad Patrols Throughout the United Kingdom

Seeing hundreds of toad carcasses on local roads "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has resulted in the creation of toad patrols throughout the UK – 274 groups are currently registered with a national initiative. These groups collect toads and carry them over streets in buckets, as well as counting the number of toads they encounter and lobbying for other safety solutions, such as road closures and amphibian passages.

Volunteers tend to operate during the breeding period, when amphibian movements are more regular. However, this implies they can miss numbers of toadlets, which, having existed as eggs and then juveniles, leave their ponds over an irregular timetable in the end of summer. Because of their small stature – just one or two centimetres wide – "they are destroyed by car traffic." And as being run over "essentially crushes them," it's harder to get data on them. At least when adult toads are killed, their remains can be counted.

Annual Work

In contrast to many groups, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth year of operating, go out throughout the year – not every night, but when weather are damp, or if someone has reported about a toad sighting in their messaging app. When I request to accompany them on duty, they admit it is "not a toady night" – toad hibernation season 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. "If anyone can find any toads tonight, those two will spot one," says the patrol manager, pointing to her 14-year-old son 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 wood.

Community Involvement

The mother and son became part of the group a year and a half ago. The teenager loves all things wildlife and has an goal to become a conservationist, so his mother started to search for activities they could do together to help native animals. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the 41-year-old small business owner tells me – so when the team was looking for a fresh coordinator recently, she decided to step up.

The teenager, too, has played an important role in the organization. A clip he made, urging the municipal authority to block a street through a protected area during breeding time, swung the decision the group's way. After a year of lobbying, the council agreed to an "access-only" restriction between evening and morning from late winter through to spring. The majority of motorists duly avoided the route.

Additional Species and Difficulties

Several vehicles go past when I'm out on patrol and we find some casualties as a result – no amphibians, but three squashed newts. We see one living newt as well, and the teenager is particularly pleased to see a daddy longlegs, which moves in his hands. Yet despite the group's hardest attempts to let me see a toad, the local population has clearly settled down for the winter. It seems that I couldn't have found any more luck elsewhere in the country – all the rescue teams I contact 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 another volunteer, who has generously made the effort to look for toads in a famous site, considered the largest accurately monitored toad group in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the subject line: "None found." However, in February and March, he informs me, the group expects to help approximately 10,000 mature amphibians across the road.

Impact and Limitations

How much of a difference can these organizations truly achieve? "The fact that people are performing this regularly on chilly, wet and miserable late nights is remarkable," notes an researcher. "This effort that very much deserves recognition." However, while rescue teams are able to slow the decline, they can't stop it completely – partly since traffic is not the only threat.

Other Dangers

The global warming has resulted in extended spells of drought, which cause the poor environment for some of the animals that toads eat, such as invertebrates, while warmer ponds have caused an increase of toxic plants, which can be toxic to toads. Milder winters also cause toads to emerge from their hibernation more often, disrupting the resource preservation vital to their existence. Loss of environment – especially the loss of large ponds – is an additional threat.

Researchers are "often concerned about overemphasizing practical benefits on biodiversity," however "It's important in just having these animals around." But toads do have an significant part in the ecosystem, consuming pretty much any small creatures or small animals they can fit in their mouths and in turn sustaining a number of birds and mammals, such as wildlife. Improving conditions for toads – ie creating more ponds, protecting forests and installing amphibian passages – "we'll improve them for a wide range of additional wildlife."

Cultural Significance

Another reason to work to preserve toads around is their "important cultural value," adds an expert. Myths and folklore around toads date back {centuries|hundred