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It is a Friday night at 7:30, 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 toad patrol. These committed people give up their nights to safeguard the native amphibian community.

An Alarming Decline in Numbers

The common toad is growing more uncommon. A latest study led by an amphibian and reptile charity revealed that the UK toad population have almost halved since the mid-1980s. Seeing a creature that has been a stalwart of the UK landscape in decrease is labeled "concerning" by experts. Toads "don't need very specific conditions" and "should be able to live successfully in most of habitats in the UK," 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 Traffic

Though the research didn't cover the causes for the drop, cars certainly plays a part. Estimates suggest that 20 tons of toads are killed on UK roads annually – that is, hundreds of thousands. In contrast to frogs, which might be content to mate "if you left out a small container," toads prefer big bodies of water. Their capacity to remain away from water for more time than frogs means they can travel further to reach them – often hundreds of metres. They usually stick to their traditional paths – it's common for mature amphibians to go back to their natal pond to mate.

Migration Habits

Fittingly, the first toads begin their quest for a partner around February 14th, but others travel as far as April, waiting until it gets night and moving through the night. During that time, toads start moving from wherever they have been hibernating "all pretty much at the same time."

One volunteer, who was raised in the region and has been trying to protect its amphibians since he was a boy, explains that "They've got just one focus: to go and have an orgy." If their path happens to a road, they could all get run over, and that mating period would be lost – stopping a new generation of toads from being produced.

Toad Patrols Across the United Kingdom

Seeing hundreds of toad carcasses on nearby streets "resonates deeply with people," and has led to the formation of rescue teams throughout the UK – 274 groups are currently registered with a national initiative. These teams pick up toads and carry them over streets in containers, as well as counting 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 migration season, when toad crossings are more regular. However, this implies they can overlook numbers of young toads, which, having existed as spawn and then juveniles, leave their water habitats over an unpredictable schedule in late summer. Because of their small stature – just one or two centimetres wide – "they can get obliterated by car traffic." And as being hit "essentially crushes them," it's more difficult to collect information on them. At least when adult toads are killed, their carcasses can be tallied.

Year-Round Work

In contrast to many groups, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth year of functioning, go out throughout the year – not nightly, but whenever conditions are warm and wet, or if a member has posted about a toad sighting in their group chat. When I ask to join them on patrol, they admit it is "not ideal conditions" – toad hibernation season has started and it's been a dry day – but several of the volunteers willingly accept to patrol their route with me and search for any toads. "If anyone can find 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 logs.

Community Involvement

The family duo became part of the patrol 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 look for things they could do jointly to help local wildlife. Now she loves it as much as he does, the middle-aged entrepreneur explains – so when the group was seeking a fresh coordinator recently, she volunteered for the role.

The youth, too, has played an important role in the organization. A video he created, urging the local council to close a street through a protected area during migration season, swung the decision the team's way. After a twelve months of campaigning, the council agreed to an "restricted access" restriction between 5pm and 5am from February through to April. The majority of motorists respected and avoided the route.

Other Wildlife and Challenges

A few vehicles go by when I'm out on patrol and we discover some casualties as a consequence – no toads, but three squashed newts. We see one living newt as well, and the youngster is especially excited to see a harvestman, which moves in his hands. Yet in spite of the team's hardest attempts to let me see a toad, the local population has clearly gone dormant for the winter. It seems that I wouldn't have had any more luck elsewhere in the nation – all the patrol groups I contact clarify that it's very difficult at this time of year.

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

One email I receive from a different helper, who has generously made the effort to check for toads in a famous site, thought to be the biggest tracked toad group in the UK, reaches me with the subject line: "No toads." However, in late winter, he informs me, the team expects to help approximately 10,000 mature amphibians across the road.

Effectiveness and Challenges

What level of impact can these groups truly achieve? "The fact that volunteers are doing this consistently on cold, damp and unpleasant late nights is quite extraordinary," notes an expert. "This effort that very much deserves recognition." However, while toad patrols are able to reduce the drop, they cannot prevent it entirely – not least because traffic is not the only threat.

Other Dangers

The global warming has meant extended spells of drought, which create the wrong conditions for some of the animals that toads consume, 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 lead toads to emerge from their dormancy more often, interfering with the energy conservation crucial to their existence. Habitat destruction – especially the loss of big water bodies – is an additional threat.

Researchers are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on biodiversity," however "It's important in just their presence." But toads play an significant part in the ecosystem, eating almost any invertebrates or tiny organisms they can swallow and in turn feeding a variety of predators, such as wildlife. Improving conditions for toads – such as creating more ponds, protecting forests and constructing toad tunnels – "benefits for a whole bunch of additional wildlife."

Historical Significance

Another reason to try to keep toads present is their "historical significance," adds an specialist. Myths and folklore around toads go back {centuries|hundred