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It is a Friday night at half past seven, but instead of going out or watching a film, I've caught a train to a town in Wiltshire to join local helpers from a amphibian rescue group. These committed people give up their evenings to safeguard the native amphibian community.

An Alarming Drop in Population

The common toad is growing more rare. A recent research led by an wildlife conservation group revealed that the British common toad numbers have dropped by half since the mid-1980s. Seeing a species that has been a fixture of the UK landscape in decline is labeled "worrying" by researchers. Toads "don't require very particular environments" and "should be able to live quite well in most of areas in the UK," so if even they are not managing to survive, "it indicates that things are not as they should be."

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

The Threat from Roads

Though the research didn't examine the causes for the drop, cars is a major factor. Estimates suggest that 20 tons of toads are killed on UK roads every year – 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 more time than frogs means they can journey farther to reach them – sometimes long distances. They usually follow their traditional paths – it's common for mature amphibians to return to their natal pond to mate.

Breeding Habits

Fittingly, the first toads start their journey for a mate around Valentine's day, but others travel as far as April, until it gets dark and travelling after sunset. During that time, toads start moving from where they have been overwintering "all pretty much at the same time."

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 path happens to a road, they could all get run over, and that mating period would be lost – preventing a new generation of toads from being born.

Toad Patrols Across the United Kingdom

Seeing hundreds of dead toads on nearby streets "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has led to the formation of rescue teams across the UK – hundreds of organizations are officially listed with a countrywide program. These teams pick up toads and transport them over streets in buckets, 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 toad crossings are more regular. However, this implies they can miss groups of toadlets, which, having been eggs and then juveniles, leave their water habitats 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 hit "essentially crushes them," it's more difficult to collect information on them. At least when mature amphibians are killed, their carcasses can be tallied.

Annual 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 damp, or if a member has posted about a amphibian spotting in their messaging app. When I ask to join them on patrol, they concede it is "not a toady night" – winter dormancy has begun and it's been a arid period – but a few of the volunteers gamely agree to walk up and down their route with me and search for any toads. "If anyone can find any toads tonight, that pair will spot 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 climbed over a wire barrier to check under some logs.

Community Involvement

The family duo became part of the patrol a year and a half ago. The teenager adores all things nature-related and has an ambition to become a conservationist, so his mother started to search for activities they could do together to protect native animals. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the 41-year-old entrepreneur tells me – so when the group was seeking a new manager recently, she volunteered for the role.

The teenager, too, has played an important role in the group. A video he created, urging the local council to close a road through a protected area during migration season, influenced the outcome the team's way. After a year of campaigning, the council approved an "access-only" rule between evening and morning from late winter through to spring. Most drivers respected and avoided the route.

Additional Species and Difficulties

Several cars go past when I'm out on duty and we find some casualties as a consequence – no toads, but three squashed newts. We spot one live amphibian as well, and the teenager is particularly pleased to see a daddy longlegs, which dances in his palms. Yet despite the team's best efforts to let me see a toad, the local population has obviously settled down for the winter. It appears that I couldn't have found any better success elsewhere in the nation – all the rescue teams I reach out to explain 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 taken the trouble to look for toads in a famous site, thought to be the largest accurately monitored toad group in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the title: "No toads." However, in late winter, he informs me, the team expects to help approximately 10,000 mature amphibians over the street.

Impact and Challenges

What level of impact can these organizations truly achieve? "The fact that people are performing this regularly on chilly, wet and miserable evenings is quite extraordinary," says an expert. "This effort that very much should be celebrated." However, while rescue teams are able to slow the decline, they cannot prevent it entirely – not least because vehicles is not the only threat.

Additional Threats

The global warming has meant longer periods of drought, which create the poor environment for some of the animals that toads consume, such as invertebrates, while higher water temperatures have caused an increase of toxic plants, which can be toxic to toads. Milder winters also cause toads to wake up from their hibernation more frequently, disrupting the resource preservation vital to their existence. Habitat destruction – especially the disappearance of large ponds – is another menace.

Experts are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on wildlife," but "There is a big value in just their presence." But toads play an important role in the food chain, consuming pretty much any invertebrates or tiny organisms they can fit in their mouths and in turn feeding a variety of birds and mammals, such as wildlife. Enhancing conditions for toads – such as creating more ponds, protecting forests and constructing amphibian passages – "we'll improve them for a whole bunch of additional wildlife."

Historical Importance

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