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It's Friday evening at half past seven, but instead of heading to the pub or watching a film, I've taken a train to a town in Wiltshire to meet up with volunteers from a amphibian rescue group. These dedicated individuals sacrifice their evenings to safeguard the local toad population.

An Alarming Decline in Population

The common toad is becoming increasingly uncommon. A recent research led by an wildlife conservation group showed that the UK toad population have almost halved since 1985. Seeing a species that has been a stalwart of the UK landscape in decline is described as "worrying" by researchers. Toads "don't require very particular environments" and "should be able to live successfully in most of areas in Britain," meaning if even they are not managing to survive, "it indicates that things are not as they should be."

The UK toad population has almost halved since 1985

The Threat from Roads

Though the research didn't cover the causes for the drop, cars certainly plays a part. Calculations suggest that 20 tons of toads are crushed on British roads annually – that is, several hundred thousand. Unlike frogs, which might be happy to mate "if you left out a bucket of water," toads favor large ponds. Their capacity to remain away from water for longer than frogs allows they can travel further to find them – sometimes long distances. They usually stick to their traditional paths – it's common for adult toads to return to their natal pond to mate.

Migration Habits

Fittingly, the first toads start their journey for a mate around February 14th, but some move as late as April, until it gets dark and travelling through the night. During that time, toads start moving from wherever they have been overwintering "almost simultaneously."

A local helper, who grew up in the region and has been trying to protect its amphibians since he was a child, explains that "Their sole purpose: to go and have an orgy." If their path happens to a street, they could be killed by traffic, and that breeding season would be lost – preventing a new generation of toads from being produced.

Rescue Groups Across the UK

Seeing many of dead toads on local roads "resonates deeply with people," and has resulted in the formation of toad patrols across the UK – hundreds of organizations are currently registered with a countrywide program. These teams pick up toads and carry them across roads in buckets, as well as recording the quantity of toads they encounter and advocating for other protection measures, such as road closures and amphibian passages.

Volunteers usually work during the breeding period, when amphibian movements are more regular. However, this means they can overlook numbers of young toads, which, having existed as spawn and then juveniles, exit their water habitats over an irregular timetable in the end of summer. Because of their small stature – just a couple of cm wide – "they are destroyed by vehicles." And as being hit "essentially crushes them," it's harder to collect information on them. At least when adult toads are killed, their remains can be counted.

Annual Work

Unlike many groups, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth year of functioning, go out throughout the year – not every night, but whenever conditions are warm and wet, or if a member has reported about a amphibian spotting in their messaging app. When I ask to join them on duty, they concede it is "not a toady night" – winter dormancy has started and it's been a dry day – but several of the volunteers gamely agree to patrol their area with me and search for any toads. "Should anyone can locate any toads tonight, that pair will find one," says the group coordinator, indicating her 14-year-old son 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 check under some wood.

Family Participation

The family duo joined the patrol a year and a half ago. The youngster loves all things nature-related and has an ambition to become a environmentalist, so his mother started to look for things they could do jointly to protect local wildlife. Now she loves it as much as he does, the middle-aged small business owner tells me – so when the team was looking for a fresh coordinator lately, she volunteered for the role.

The teenager, too, has played an important role in the organization. A clip he created, urging the municipal authority to block a street through a nature reserve during breeding time, swung the decision the group's way. After a year of lobbying, the authority approved an "restricted access" rule between evening and morning from late winter through to April. The majority of motorists duly avoided the route.

Other Wildlife and Challenges

A few cars go by when I'm out on duty and we discover some casualties as a result – no amphibians, but several crushed salamanders. We spot one living newt as well, and the teenager is especially excited to see a harvestman, which moves in his palms. Yet despite the group's best efforts to let me see a toad, the local population has obviously gone dormant for the colder months. It seems that I wouldn't have had any better success elsewhere in the nation – all the patrol groups I contact explain that it's near-impossible at this season.

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

A message I receive from a different helper, who has kindly taken the trouble to check for toads in a noted location, thought to be the biggest tracked toad group in the UK, reaches me with the subject line: "None found." However, in February and March, he informs me, the team plans to assist around ten thousand adult toads over the street.

Impact and Limitations

What level of impact can these organizations actually make? "The reality that volunteers are performing this consistently on cold, damp and unpleasant late nights is remarkable," says an researcher. "That's something that very much deserves recognition." However, while rescue teams are able to reduce the drop, they can't stop it completely – partly since vehicles is not the only threat.

Other Dangers

The global warming has resulted in longer periods of drought, which create the wrong conditions for some of the animals that toads consume, such as worms and slugs, while higher water temperatures have caused an rise of blue-green algae, which can be toxic to toads. Milder winters also cause toads to emerge from their hibernation more often, interfering with the energy conservation crucial to their existence. Loss of environment – particularly the disappearance of big water bodies – is an additional threat.

Experts are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on biodiversity," but "It's important in just their presence." But toads play an important role in the ecosystem, eating almost any small creatures or tiny organisms they can swallow and in turn feeding a variety of predators, such as hedgehogs and otters. Enhancing situations for toads – ie creating more ponds, conserving woodland and installing toad tunnels – "benefits for a whole bunch of other species."

Cultural Significance

An additional motive to try to keep toads around is their "historical significance," adds an expert. Myths and folklore around toads date back {centuries|hundred