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It's a Friday evening at half past seven, but rather than going out or watching a film, I've caught a train to a town in the countryside to join volunteers from a toad patrol. These committed people sacrifice their nights to protect the local toad population.

An Alarming Decline in Population

The Bufo bufo is growing more uncommon. A latest study led by an amphibian and reptile charity revealed that the UK toad population have almost halved 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 the majority of areas in the UK," so if even they are struggling to persist, "it indicates that things are not as they should be."

Toad populations across the UK have declined by almost 50% since the 1980s

The Threat from Traffic

Though the study didn't cover the causes for the decline, cars certainly plays a part. Estimates indicate that 20 tonnes of toads are killed on UK roads every year – in other words, hundreds of thousands. Unlike frogs, which might be happy to mate "with just a bucket of water," toads prefer big bodies of water. Their capacity to stay out of water for more time than frogs allows they can travel further to reach them – often hundreds of metres. They tend to stick to their ancestral migration routes – it's typical for mature amphibians to return to their birth pond to mate.

Migration Patterns

Appropriately enough, the initial amphibians start their journey for a mate around February 14th, but some move as far as April, until it gets night and travelling after sunset. During that period, toads start moving from where they have been hibernating "all pretty much at the same time."

One volunteer, who was raised in the region and has been trying to protect its toad population since he was a child, explains that "Their sole purpose: to go and mate." If their path happens to a street, they could be killed by traffic, and that breeding season would be lost – stopping a next generation of toads from being born.

Toad Patrols Across the UK

Finding hundreds of toad carcasses on local roads "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has led to the creation of toad patrols across the UK – 274 groups are currently registered with a national initiative. These teams collect toads and transport them across roads in containers, as well as recording the number of toads they encounter and advocating for other protection measures, such as road closures and underground wildlife tunnels.

Volunteers tend to operate during the migration season, when toad crossings are more regular. However, this means they can overlook numbers of toadlets, which, having been eggs and then tadpoles, leave their ponds 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 run over "basically turns them into mush," it's harder to get data on them. At least when mature amphibians are lost, their remains can be counted.

Year-Round Efforts

Unlike most patrols, one local team, who are in their eighth year of operating, go out year-round – not every night, but when weather are warm and wet, or if someone has reported about a toad sighting in their messaging app. When I ask to join them on patrol, they concede it is "not a toady night" – winter dormancy has started and it's been a dry day – but a few of the volunteers willingly accept to patrol their area with me and search for any toads. "Should anyone can find any toads tonight, that pair will spot one," says the group coordinator, 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 wire barrier to check under some logs.

Community Participation

The mother and son became part of the patrol a year and a half ago. The teenager adores all things wildlife and has an ambition to become a environmentalist, so his mother started to search for activities they could do jointly to help native animals. Now she loves it as much as he does, the 41-year-old small business owner explains – so when the team was seeking a new manager recently, she volunteered for the role.

The teenager, too, has played an important role in the group. A clip he created, imploring the local council to close a road through a nature reserve during breeding time, swung the decision the group's way. After a twelve months of lobbying, the council approved an "access-only" rule between 5pm and 5am from late winter through to April. The majority of motorists respected and avoided the road.

Other Wildlife and Challenges

Several cars go by when I'm out on duty and we discover some victims as a result – no toads, but three squashed newts. We spot one live amphibian as well, and the teenager is particularly pleased to see a daddy longlegs, which dances in his hands. Yet in spite of the group's best efforts to let me see a toad, the local population has clearly settled down for the colder months. It seems that I wouldn't have had any better success anywhere else in the nation – all the patrol groups I reach out to 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 receive from a different helper, who has kindly made the effort to check for toads in a noted location, thought to be the largest accurately monitored toad group in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the title: "None found." However, in late winter, he informs me, the team expects to help around ten thousand adult toads across the road.

Impact and Limitations

How much of a difference can these organizations actually make? "The fact that people are performing this consistently on cold, damp and unpleasant late nights is remarkable," notes 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 traffic is just one danger.

Additional Threats

The global warming has meant extended spells of drought, which create the wrong conditions for some of the creatures that toads consume, such as worms and slugs, while warmer ponds have led to an increase of blue-green algae, which can be toxic to toads. Milder winters also lead toads to emerge from their dormancy more often, interfering with the resource preservation crucial to their life cycle. Habitat destruction – especially the disappearance of big water bodies – is another menace.

Experts are "always a bit worried about overemphasizing practical benefits on biodiversity," however "There is a big value in just having these animals around." But toads play an important role in the ecosystem, eating almost any small creatures or small animals they can fit in their mouths and in turn sustaining a number of birds and mammals, such as hedgehogs and otters. Enhancing conditions for toads – such as building water habitats, protecting forests and installing toad tunnels – "benefits for a wide range of additional wildlife."

Historical 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