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It is Friday evening at 7:30, but instead of heading to the pub or relaxing at home, I've caught a train to a market town in the countryside to join volunteers from a toad patrol. These committed people give up their evenings to protect the native amphibian community.

An Alarming Decline in Population

The common toad is growing more uncommon. A latest research led by an wildlife conservation group revealed that the UK toad population have dropped by half since 1985. Seeing a species that has been a fixture of the UK landscape in decline is described as "concerning" by experts. 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 struggling to persist, "it kind of suggests that things are not as they should be."

Since 1985, Britain's toad numbers have nearly been cut in half

The Danger from Roads

Though the research didn't examine the causes for the decline, cars is a major factor. Estimates suggest that 20 tons of toads are killed on UK roads annually – in other words, hundreds of thousands. Unlike frogs, which might be content to mate "if you left out a small container," toads prefer big bodies of water. Their ability to stay out of water for more time than frogs allows they can journey farther to reach them – often hundreds of metres. They usually follow their traditional paths – it's typical for adult toads to return to their natal pond to mate.

Migration Habits

Fittingly, the first toads start their journey for a partner around Valentine's day, but others travel as late as spring, until it gets dark and travelling after sunset. During that period, toads start moving from wherever they have been overwintering "almost simultaneously."

One volunteer, who was raised in the region and has been working to save its amphibians since he was a child, notes that "Their sole purpose: to go and mate." If their path happens to a road, they could be killed by traffic, and that breeding season would be lost – preventing a next generation of toads from being born.

Rescue Groups Throughout the UK

Seeing many of dead toads on local roads "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has resulted in the formation of toad patrols throughout the UK – 274 groups are currently registered with a national initiative. These groups pick up toads and carry them across roads in buckets, as well as recording the number of toads they encounter and advocating for other safety solutions, such as road closures and underground wildlife tunnels.

Patrols usually work during the breeding period, when amphibian movements are more regular. However, this implies they can overlook numbers of toadlets, which, having been eggs and then juveniles, exit their water habitats over an irregular timetable in late summer. Because of their size – just a couple of cm wide – "they are destroyed by car traffic." And as being hit "basically turns them into mush," it's harder to collect information on them. At least when adult toads are killed, their remains can be tallied.

Annual Work

Unlike many groups, one local team, who are in their eighth year of functioning, go out throughout the year – not nightly, but whenever conditions are damp, or if someone has reported about a amphibian spotting in their group chat. When I request to accompany them on duty, they concede it is "not a toady night" – toad hibernation season has begun and it's been a dry day – but a few of the helpers willingly accept to patrol their area 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 teenage child and the longtime volunteer. After for 120 minutes without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have scaled a barbed wire fence to check under some wood.

Community Participation

The family duo joined the patrol a year and a half ago. The teenager loves all things nature-related and has an goal to become a conservationist, so his parent started to look for things they could do together to protect 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 lately, she decided to step up.

The teenager, too, has played an important role in the group. A video he made, imploring the municipal authority to block a street through a nature reserve during breeding time, swung the decision the team's way. After a twelve months of lobbying, the council agreed to an "restricted access" rule between 5pm and 5am from late winter through to spring. The majority of motorists respected and avoided the road.

Other Wildlife and Challenges

Several cars go by when I'm out on patrol and we find some casualties as a result – no toads, but several crushed salamanders. We see one living newt as well, and the youngster is especially excited to see a daddy longlegs, which moves in his hands. Yet despite the team's hardest attempts to show me a toad, the local population has obviously gone dormant for the colder months. It seems that I couldn't have found any better success elsewhere in the country – all the patrol groups I contact explain that it's very difficult at this time of year.

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

A message I get 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 population in the UK, reaches me with the subject line: "None found." However, in February and March, he informs me, the group expects to help approximately 10,000 adult toads across the road.

Impact and Challenges

What level of impact can these groups actually make? "The fact that people are performing this regularly on chilly, wet and miserable evenings is remarkable," says an expert. "That's something that very much should be celebrated." However, while toad patrols are able to slow the decline, they cannot prevent it entirely – not least because traffic is just one danger.

Other Dangers

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 warmer ponds have caused an increase of toxic plants, which can be harmful to toads. Warmer cold seasons also cause toads to emerge from their dormancy more often, interfering with the energy conservation vital to their life cycle. Habitat destruction – particularly the disappearance of big water bodies – is an additional threat.

Experts are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on wildlife," but "It's important in just having these animals around." But toads play an important role in the food chain, eating almost any small creatures or small animals they can swallow and in turn feeding a variety of birds and mammals, such as wildlife. Improving situations for toads – ie creating more ponds, protecting forests and installing toad tunnels – "we'll improve them for a whole bunch of additional wildlife."

Cultural Importance

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