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

A Worrying Drop in Numbers

The Bufo bufo is becoming increasingly uncommon. A latest research conducted by an wildlife conservation group showed that the UK toad population have almost halved since the mid-1980s. Seeing a creature that has been a stalwart 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 areas in the UK," meaning if even they are struggling to persist, "it indicates that the ecosystem is unbalanced."

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

The Danger from Roads

Though the study didn't cover the reasons for the drop, traffic is a major factor. Calculations suggest that 20 tonnes of toads are killed on British roads every year – that is, hundreds of thousands. Unlike frogs, which would probably be happy to mate "with just a small container," toads prefer large ponds. Their ability to stay out of water for more time than frogs allows they can travel further to find them – sometimes hundreds of metres. They tend to follow their traditional paths – it's common for mature amphibians to go back to their birth pond to mate.

Breeding Habits

Appropriately enough, the initial amphibians begin their quest for a mate around Valentine's day, but others travel as far as April, until it gets dark and moving through the night. During that time, toads begin migrating from where they have been overwintering "all pretty much at the same time."

A local helper, who grew up in the region and has been trying to protect its toad population since he was a child, notes that "They've got just one focus: to go and have an orgy." If their path happens to a road, they could all get run over, and that breeding season would be lost – preventing a next generation of toads from being born.

Toad Patrols Throughout the United Kingdom

Finding many of toad carcasses on local roads "resonates deeply with people," and has led to the creation of toad patrols throughout the UK – 274 groups are currently registered with a national initiative. These teams pick up toads and transport them over streets in buckets, as well as recording the number of toads they find and advocating for other safety solutions, such as blocked roads and underground wildlife tunnels.

Patrols tend to operate during the migration season, when toad crossings are frequent. However, this means they can overlook groups of toadlets, which, having existed as spawn and then tadpoles, leave their ponds over an unpredictable schedule in late summer. Because of their small stature – just a couple of cm wide – "they can get obliterated by vehicles." And as being run over "basically turns them into mush," it's more difficult to collect information on them. At least when mature amphibians are killed, their remains can be counted.

Year-Round Efforts

Unlike many groups, 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 posted about a toad sighting in their messaging app. When I ask to join them on duty, they admit it is "not ideal conditions" – toad hibernation season has started and it's been a dry day – but a few of the helpers gamely agree to patrol their route with me and search for any toads. "Should anyone can locate any toads tonight, that pair will find one," says the patrol manager, pointing to her teenage child and the experienced member. After for two hours without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have scaled a barbed wire fence to inspect beneath some wood.

Community Participation

The family duo became part of the patrol a while back. The youngster adores all things wildlife and has an ambition to become a conservationist, so his parent started to look for things they could do jointly to help native animals. 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 new manager lately, she volunteered for the role.

The youth, too, has been instrumental in the organization. A video he made, imploring the local council to block a road through a nature reserve during migration season, influenced the outcome the group's way. After a twelve months of campaigning, the authority agreed to an "access-only" rule between 5pm and 5am from February through to spring. Most drivers duly avoided the route.

Additional Species and Challenges

A few vehicles go by when I'm out on duty and we find some casualties as a consequence – no toads, but three squashed newts. We spot one live amphibian as well, and the teenager is particularly pleased to see a harvestman, which moves in his hands. Yet in spite of the group's best efforts to let me see a toad, the native community has obviously settled down for the winter. It seems that I couldn't have found any more luck elsewhere in the country – all the rescue teams I contact explain that it's near-impossible 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 taken the trouble 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: "No toads." However, in late winter, he tells me, the group expects to help around ten thousand mature amphibians over the street.

Impact and Challenges

How much of a difference can these organizations actually make? "The fact that volunteers are doing this regularly on cold, damp and unpleasant evenings is remarkable," notes an researcher. "That's something that very much deserves recognition." However, while toad patrols are able to slow the decline, they cannot prevent it entirely – partly since vehicles is not the only threat.

Additional Threats

The global warming has resulted in extended spells of drought, which create the poor environment for some of the animals that toads eat, such as worms and slugs, while warmer ponds have caused an increase of blue-green algae, which can be toxic to toads. Milder winters also lead toads to emerge from their hibernation more frequently, interfering with the energy conservation vital to their life cycle. Loss of environment – especially the disappearance of large ponds – is an additional threat.

Experts are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on biodiversity," however "There is a big value in just their presence." But toads do have an significant part in the food chain, eating almost any invertebrates or small animals they can swallow and in turn feeding a variety of predators, such as hedgehogs and otters. Enhancing situations for toads – such as building water habitats, protecting forests and constructing toad tunnels – "we'll improve them for a whole bunch of additional wildlife."

Historical Significance

Another reason to try to keep toads present is their "historical significance," adds an specialist. Myths and folklore around toads date back {centuries|hundred