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It is a Friday evening at 7:30, but instead of going out or relaxing at home, I've taken a train to a town in Wiltshire to meet up with volunteers from a toad patrol. These committed people give up their evenings to safeguard the native amphibian community.

An Alarming Drop in Numbers

The common toad is growing more uncommon. A latest research led by an amphibian and reptile charity showed that the UK toad population have dropped by half since the mid-1980s. Observing a creature that has been a fixture of the UK landscape in decline is described as "concerning" by experts. Toads "don't need very specific conditions" and "ought to live quite well in most of habitats in the UK," so if even they are struggling to persist, "it kind of suggests 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. Calculations suggest that 20 tons of toads are killed on British roads annually – in other words, hundreds of thousands. Unlike frogs, which might be content to mate "if you left out a small container," toads favor big bodies of water. Their ability to remain away from water for more time than frogs allows they can travel further to reach them – sometimes long distances. They usually follow their ancestral migration routes – it's common for mature amphibians to go back to their birth pond to mate.

Breeding Habits

Fittingly, the initial amphibians start their journey for a mate around February 14th, but others travel as far as April, waiting until it gets night and moving after sunset. During that period, toads begin migrating from wherever they have been overwintering "almost simultaneously."

A local helper, who grew up in the area and has been working to save its amphibians since he was a child, explains that "Their sole purpose: to go and have an orgy." If their route happens to a street, they could be killed by traffic, and that mating period would be lost – preventing a next generation of toads from being born.

Rescue Groups Throughout the UK

Finding hundreds of dead toads on local roads "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has led to the creation of rescue teams across the UK – hundreds of organizations are officially listed with a countrywide program. These groups collect toads and carry them across roads in containers, as well as counting the quantity of toads they find and lobbying for other safety solutions, such as road closures and amphibian passages.

Volunteers tend to operate during the migration season, when amphibian movements are frequent. However, this implies they can overlook groups of toadlets, which, having been eggs and then juveniles, exit their water habitats over an unpredictable schedule 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 more difficult to collect information on them. At least when adult toads are lost, 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 every night, but when 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 duty, they concede it is "not ideal conditions" – toad hibernation season has started and it's been a arid period – but a few of the volunteers gamely agree to patrol their route with me and search for any toads. "Should anyone can find any toads tonight, that pair will find one," says the patrol manager, pointing to her 14-year-old son and the experienced member. After for 120 minutes without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have scaled a barbed wire fence to inspect beneath some wood.

Family Involvement

The mother and son became part of the patrol a while back. The youngster adores all things wildlife and has an ambition to become a conservationist, so his parent started to search for activities they could do jointly to protect native animals. Now she loves it as much as he does, the middle-aged entrepreneur explains – so when the team was looking for a new manager recently, she volunteered for the role.

The teenager, too, has been instrumental in the organization. A video he created, imploring the municipal authority to close a road through a nature reserve during breeding time, swung the decision the team's way. After a year of lobbying, the council agreed to an "access-only" rule between 5pm and 5am from late winter through to spring. The majority of motorists duly avoided the route.

Additional Species and Difficulties

A few vehicles go past when I'm out on duty and we discover some victims as a consequence – no amphibians, but several crushed salamanders. We see one live amphibian as well, and the teenager is particularly pleased to see a harvestman, which dances in his palms. Yet in spite of the team's best efforts to let me see a toad, the native community has clearly gone dormant for the colder months. It seems that I wouldn't have had any more luck anywhere else in the nation – all the patrol groups I reach out to clarify that it's near-impossible at this time of year.

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

A message I get from another volunteer, who has generously taken the trouble to look for toads in a famous site, considered the biggest tracked toad population in the UK, reaches me with the subject line: "None found." However, in February and March, he informs me, the team expects to help approximately 10,000 adult toads across the road.

Impact and Challenges

What level of impact can these organizations actually make? "The fact that people are performing this consistently on cold, damp and unpleasant late nights is remarkable," says an expert. "This effort that very much should be celebrated." However, while rescue teams are able to slow the decline, they can't stop it completely – partly since traffic is just one danger.

Other Dangers

The climate crisis has meant extended spells of dry weather, which cause the poor environment for some of the creatures that toads eat, such as worms and slugs, while higher water temperatures have caused an rise of toxic plants, which can be harmful to toads. Warmer cold seasons also lead toads to emerge from their hibernation more often, disrupting the resource preservation vital to their life cycle. Habitat destruction – especially the loss of big water bodies – is an additional threat.

Experts are "always a bit worried about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on biodiversity," but "There is a big value in just having these animals around." But toads play an important role in the ecosystem, eating pretty much any invertebrates or small animals they can fit in their mouths and in turn feeding a variety of birds and mammals, such as hedgehogs and otters. Improving situations for toads – ie creating more ponds, protecting forests and constructing amphibian passages – "we'll improve them for a whole bunch of other species."

Historical Significance

An additional motive to try to keep toads around is their "historical significance," adds an specialist. Legends and tales around toads go back {centuries|hundred