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It's Friday night at half past seven, but rather than going out or relaxing at home, I've caught a train to a market town in the countryside to meet up with local helpers from a toad patrol. These dedicated individuals give up their evenings to protect the local toad population.

An Alarming Drop in Population

The common toad is becoming increasingly rare. A recent study led by an amphibian and reptile charity revealed that the British common toad numbers have almost halved since the mid-1980s. Observing a species that has been a stalwart of the British countryside in decrease is labeled "concerning" by researchers. Toads "don't require very particular environments" and "should be able to live quite well in the majority of areas in the UK," meaning if even they are struggling to persist, "it kind of suggests that the ecosystem is unbalanced."

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, traffic is a major factor. Calculations indicate that 20 tonnes of toads are killed on UK roads every year – in other words, hundreds of thousands. Unlike frogs, which would probably be happy to mate "if you left out a bucket of water," toads prefer big bodies of water. Their capacity to stay out of water for longer than frogs means they can travel further to reach them – sometimes long distances. They usually follow their ancestral migration routes – it's common for adult toads to go back to their birth pond to mate.

Migration Patterns

Appropriately enough, the initial amphibians start their journey for a mate around February 14th, but others travel as late as April, until it gets dark and travelling through the night. During that time, toads begin migrating from wherever they have been overwintering "all pretty much at the same time."

One volunteer, who grew up in the region and has been working to save its amphibians since he was a child, notes that "They've got just one focus: to go and mate." If their path happens to a street, they could be killed by traffic, and that mating period would be lost – preventing a new generation of toads from being produced.

Toad Patrols Throughout the UK

Finding hundreds of dead toads on nearby streets "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has led to the formation of rescue teams throughout the UK – hundreds of organizations are officially listed with a national initiative. These groups pick up toads and transport them across roads in buckets, as well as recording the number of toads they find and lobbying for other protection measures, such as blocked roads and amphibian passages.

Volunteers tend to operate during the migration season, when toad crossings are frequent. However, this means they can miss groups of young toads, which, having existed as eggs and then tadpoles, leave 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 harder to collect information on them. At least when adult toads are lost, their remains can be tallied.

Annual Work

In contrast to most patrols, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth year of operating, go out throughout the year – not nightly, but when conditions are damp, or if someone has reported about a amphibian spotting in their messaging app. When I request to accompany them on duty, they concede it is "not ideal conditions" – winter dormancy has begun 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 locate any toads tonight, those two will spot one," says the patrol manager, indicating her teenage child and the longtime volunteer. We've been out for two hours without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have scaled a barbed wire fence to inspect beneath some wood.

Family Involvement

The mother and son became part of the patrol a while back. The youngster adores all things nature-related and has an ambition to become a conservationist, so his parent started to search for activities they could do jointly to protect local wildlife. Now she loves it as much as he does, the middle-aged entrepreneur explains – so when the team was looking for a fresh coordinator lately, she volunteered for the role.

The teenager, too, has been instrumental in the group. A video he created, urging the local council to close a road through a nature reserve during breeding time, influenced the outcome the team's way. After a twelve months of campaigning, the council agreed to an "restricted access" restriction between 5pm and 5am from February through to April. The majority of motorists respected and avoided the route.

Additional Species and Difficulties

Several vehicles go past when I'm out on duty and we find some victims as a result – no amphibians, but three squashed newts. We spot one living newt as well, and the youngster is particularly pleased to see a daddy longlegs, which moves in his palms. Yet in spite of the group's best efforts to show me a toad, the native community has obviously settled down for the colder months. It seems that I wouldn't have had any more luck elsewhere in the nation – all the rescue teams I contact clarify that it's very difficult at this season.

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

One email I receive from another volunteer, who has generously taken the trouble to look for toads in a famous site, thought to be the biggest tracked toad population in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the subject line: "No toads." However, in February and March, he tells me, the group expects to help approximately 10,000 adult toads across the road.

Impact and Challenges

What level of impact can these groups truly achieve? "The reality that volunteers are performing this regularly on chilly, wet and miserable late nights is quite extraordinary," notes an expert. "That's something that very much should be celebrated." However, while toad patrols are able to reduce the drop, they cannot prevent it entirely – partly since traffic is just one danger.

Other Dangers

The global warming has meant longer periods of drought, which cause the wrong conditions for some of the creatures that toads consume, such as invertebrates, while higher water temperatures have caused an increase of blue-green algae, which can be toxic to toads. Warmer cold seasons also lead toads to emerge from their dormancy more frequently, disrupting the resource preservation crucial to their existence. Loss of environment – particularly the loss of big water bodies – is another menace.

Experts are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on wildlife," however "There is a big value in just their presence." But toads play an important role in the ecosystem, eating 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. Improving conditions for toads – ie building water habitats, conserving woodland and constructing toad tunnels – "benefits for a wide range of additional wildlife."

Cultural Significance

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