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It's a Friday evening at half past seven, but rather than heading to the pub or watching a film, I've caught a train to a town in the countryside to join local helpers from a toad patrol. These committed people give up their evenings to protect the local toad population.

A Worrying Decline in Numbers

The common toad is becoming increasingly uncommon. A recent research led by an wildlife conservation group showed that the UK toad population have dropped by half since the mid-1980s. Seeing a species that has been a fixture of the UK landscape in decline is described as "concerning" by experts. Toads "don't need very particular environments" and "ought to live quite well in most of habitats in the UK," meaning if even they are not managing to survive, "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 Traffic

Though the research didn't cover the causes for the drop, cars is a major factor. Estimates indicate that 20 tonnes of toads are crushed on British roads every year – that is, hundreds of thousands. Unlike frogs, which would probably be content to mate "if you left out a small container," toads favor large ponds. Their capacity to stay out of water for longer than frogs means they can journey farther to find them – often hundreds of metres. They tend to stick to their traditional paths – it's common for mature amphibians to go back to their birth pond to mate.

Breeding Patterns

Appropriately enough, the initial amphibians start their journey for a partner around Valentine's day, but others travel as late as spring, until it gets dark and travelling through the night. During that period, toads begin migrating from where they have been hibernating "all pretty much at the same time."

A local helper, who grew up in the area and has been trying to protect its toad population since he was a boy, explains that "Their sole purpose: to go and have an orgy." If their path crosses a street, they could all get run over, and that mating period would be lost – preventing a new generation of toads from being born.

Rescue Groups Across the UK

Seeing hundreds of toad carcasses on nearby streets "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has led to the formation of rescue teams throughout the UK – 274 groups are officially listed with a national initiative. 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 underground wildlife tunnels.

Volunteers tend to operate during the migration season, when amphibian movements are frequent. However, this means they can miss numbers of young toads, which, having been eggs and then tadpoles, exit their water habitats over an irregular timetable in late summer. Because of their small stature – just one or two centimetres wide – "they can get obliterated by car traffic." And as being hit "basically turns them into mush," it's more difficult to get data on them. At least when adult toads are lost, their carcasses can be tallied.

Year-Round Work

In contrast to many groups, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth season of operating, go out throughout the year – not every night, but when weather are damp, or if someone has posted about a amphibian spotting in their group chat. When I ask to join them on patrol, they admit it is "not a toady night" – winter dormancy has started and it's been a arid period – but a few of the helpers gamely agree to patrol their area with me and see what we can find. "Should anyone can find any toads tonight, those two will spot one," says the patrol manager, indicating her teenage child and the longtime volunteer. After for 120 minutes without a single toad sighting, and now they have climbed over a barbed wire fence to check under some wood.

Community Participation

The family duo became part of the group a while back. The teenager loves all things wildlife and has an ambition to become a environmentalist, so his parent started to search for things they could do together to help local wildlife. Now she loves it as much as he does, the middle-aged entrepreneur tells me – so when the group was looking for a fresh coordinator lately, she decided to step up.

The youth, too, has been instrumental in the group. A clip he created, urging the municipal authority to close a street through a nature reserve during migration season, influenced the outcome the team's way. After a twelve months of lobbying, the council agreed to an "access-only" restriction between evening and morning from February through to spring. Most drivers duly avoided the road.

Other Wildlife and Difficulties

A few cars go past when I'm out on patrol and we find some victims as a result – no amphibians, but several crushed salamanders. We spot one live amphibian as well, and the youngster is particularly pleased to see a daddy longlegs, which dances in his hands. Yet despite the team's hardest attempts to let me see a toad, the local population has clearly gone dormant for the winter. It seems that I couldn't have found any better success anywhere else in the country – all the patrol groups I contact explain that it's near-impossible at this time of year.

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 noted location, thought to be the biggest tracked toad group in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the subject line: "None found." However, in February and March, he tells me, the group expects to help around 10,000 adult toads across the road.

Impact and Limitations

How much of a difference can these organizations actually make? "The reality that people are performing this consistently on chilly, wet and miserable 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 cannot prevent it entirely – not least because vehicles is just one danger.

Other Dangers

The global warming has resulted in extended spells of drought, which cause the poor environment for some of the creatures 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 emerge from their dormancy more frequently, disrupting the energy conservation crucial to their existence. Habitat destruction – especially the loss of large ponds – is an additional threat.

Researchers are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on biodiversity," however "It's important in just having these animals around." But toads play an significant part in the food chain, consuming almost any small creatures or small animals they can fit in their mouths and in turn sustaining a number of predators, such as wildlife. Enhancing situations for toads – such as building water habitats, protecting forests and constructing amphibian passages – "we'll improve them for a whole bunch of additional wildlife."

Cultural Significance

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