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It's a Friday evening at 7:30, but rather than going out or relaxing at home, I've caught a train to a town in the countryside to meet up with volunteers from a toad patrol. These committed people give up their evenings to protect the local toad population.

A Worrying Decline in Population

The Bufo bufo is becoming increasingly uncommon. A recent research conducted by an amphibian and reptile charity showed that the British common toad numbers have dropped by half since the mid-1980s. Observing a species that has been a fixture of the British countryside in decline is labeled "worrying" by experts. Toads "don't require very particular environments" and "ought to live quite well in most of habitats in Britain," meaning 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 Danger from Roads

Though the research didn't examine the reasons for the decline, cars certainly plays a part. Calculations indicate that 20 tonnes of toads are crushed on UK roads every year – that is, hundreds of thousands. Unlike frogs, which might be happy to mate "with just a small container," toads favor large ponds. Their ability to stay out of water for more time than frogs allows 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 return to their birth pond to mate.

Breeding Habits

Appropriately enough, the initial amphibians start their journey for a partner around Valentine's day, but others travel as late as spring, waiting until it gets dark and moving after sunset. During that period, toads begin migrating from where they have been overwintering "almost simultaneously."

One volunteer, who was raised in the region and has been working to save its toad population since he was a child, explains that "Their sole purpose: to go and mate." If their route happens to a road, they could all get run over, and that mating period would be lost – preventing a next 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 resulted in the formation of rescue teams throughout the UK – 274 groups are officially listed with a countrywide program. These groups pick up toads and carry them over streets in containers, as well as counting the number of toads they find and lobbying for other safety solutions, such as blocked roads and underground wildlife tunnels.

Volunteers usually work during the migration season, when toad crossings are frequent. However, this means they can overlook numbers of toadlets, which, having existed as spawn and then tadpoles, exit their ponds over an unpredictable schedule in the end of summer. Because of their size – just a couple of cm wide – "they are destroyed by vehicles." And as being run over "essentially crushes them," it's more difficult to collect information on them. At least when mature amphibians are lost, their carcasses can be tallied.

Year-Round Work

In contrast to most patrols, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth year of operating, go out year-round – not nightly, but when weather are damp, or if someone has posted about a toad sighting in their group chat. When I request to accompany them on patrol, they admit it is "not ideal conditions" – toad hibernation season has started and it's been a dry day – but a few of the helpers gamely agree to walk up and down their area with me and search for any toads. "If anyone can find any toads tonight, those two will spot one," says the group coordinator, indicating her teenage child and the longtime volunteer. We've been out for two hours without a single toad sighting, and now they have climbed over a barbed wire fence to inspect beneath some wood.

Family Participation

The mother and son joined the group a while back. The teenager adores all things nature-related and has an ambition to become a environmentalist, so his mother started to search for activities they could do jointly to protect local wildlife. 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 lately, she decided to step up.

The teenager, too, has played an important role in the organization. A clip he made, imploring the local council to close a street through a nature reserve during breeding time, influenced the outcome the group's way. After a year of campaigning, the council agreed to an "restricted access" rule between evening and morning from February through to April. Most drivers respected and avoided the road.

Other Wildlife and Difficulties

A few vehicles go past when I'm out on duty and we find some victims as a consequence – no amphibians, but several crushed salamanders. We see one live amphibian as well, and the youngster is especially excited to see a harvestman, which dances in his palms. Yet in spite of the team's hardest attempts to show me a toad, the native community has obviously settled down for the winter. It appears 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 get from a different helper, who has generously made the effort to check for toads in a famous site, considered the biggest tracked toad group in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the title: "No toads." However, in February and March, he tells me, the group plans to assist around ten thousand mature amphibians over the street.

Effectiveness and Limitations

What level of impact can these groups actually make? "The reality that people are doing this regularly on chilly, wet and miserable late nights is quite extraordinary," says an expert. "This effort that very much deserves recognition." However, while toad patrols are able to slow the decline, they can't stop it completely – not least because vehicles is just one danger.

Additional Threats

The global warming has meant longer periods of dry weather, which create the poor environment for some of the animals that toads consume, such as worms and slugs, while higher water temperatures have caused an increase of blue-green algae, which can be harmful to toads. Warmer cold seasons also lead toads to wake up from their dormancy more frequently, interfering with the resource preservation vital to their life cycle. Habitat destruction – particularly the disappearance of large ponds – is an additional threat.

Researchers are "often concerned about overemphasizing practical benefits on wildlife," but "It's important in just their presence." But toads do have an important role in the food chain, eating pretty much any small creatures or small animals they can swallow and in turn sustaining a variety of predators, such as wildlife. Enhancing conditions for toads – ie building water habitats, protecting forests and installing amphibian passages – "benefits for a whole bunch of other species."

Cultural Significance

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