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It's Friday night at 7:30, but instead of going out or watching a film, I've taken a train to a market town in Wiltshire to meet up with local helpers from a toad patrol. These dedicated individuals give up their nights to protect the native amphibian community.

An Alarming Decline in Population

The common toad is growing more rare. A recent research led by an wildlife conservation group revealed that the UK toad population have dropped by half since the mid-1980s. Observing a species that has been a fixture of the UK landscape in decrease is described as "concerning" by experts. Toads "don't need very particular environments" and "ought to live quite well 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 Traffic

Though the study didn't cover the reasons for the decline, cars is a major factor. Calculations indicate that 20 tons of toads are crushed on UK roads annually – that is, hundreds of thousands. In contrast to frogs, which would probably be content to mate "with just a bucket of water," toads prefer big bodies of water. Their ability to stay out of water for more time than frogs means they can travel further to find them – sometimes long distances. They usually stick to their ancestral migration routes – it's typical 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 some move as late as spring, waiting until it gets dark and moving after sunset. During that period, toads start moving from where they have been hibernating "almost simultaneously."

One volunteer, who was raised in the region and has been trying to protect its toad population since he was a boy, notes that "They've got just one focus: 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.

Toad Patrols Throughout the UK

Seeing many of dead toads on nearby streets "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has led to the creation of toad patrols across the UK – hundreds of organizations are currently registered with a national initiative. These groups pick up toads and transport them across roads in containers, as well as recording the quantity of toads they find and lobbying for other protection measures, such as road closures and underground wildlife tunnels.

Volunteers tend to operate during the breeding period, when toad crossings are frequent. However, this implies they can overlook numbers of young toads, which, having been eggs and then juveniles, leave their water habitats over an unpredictable schedule in the end of summer. Because of their small stature – just a couple of cm wide – "they can get obliterated by car traffic." And as being run over "essentially crushes them," it's harder to get data on them. At least when adult toads are killed, their remains can be counted.

Annual Work

Unlike many groups, one local team, who are in their eighth year of functioning, go out year-round – not nightly, but when conditions are damp, or if someone has posted about a amphibian spotting in their messaging app. When I request to accompany them on duty, they admit it is "not ideal conditions" – toad hibernation season has started and it's been a dry day – but several of the helpers gamely agree to patrol their route with me and see what we can find. "Should anyone can find any toads tonight, that pair will find one," says the group coordinator, 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 check under some logs.

Community Involvement

The family duo became part of the group a while back. The teenager loves all things nature-related and has an goal to become a conservationist, so his parent started to look for activities they could do together to help local wildlife. Now she loves it as much as he does, the 41-year-old small business owner explains – so when the group was seeking a fresh coordinator recently, she decided to step up.

The teenager, too, has played an important role in the organization. A clip he made, imploring the local council to close a street through a protected area during breeding time, influenced the outcome the group's way. After a year of lobbying, the council agreed to an "access-only" rule between evening and morning from February through to April. The majority of motorists duly avoided the road.

Additional Species and Challenges

Several cars go past when I'm out on duty and we discover some victims as a result – no amphibians, but three squashed newts. We spot one living newt as well, and the teenager is particularly pleased to see a daddy longlegs, which dances in his palms. Yet despite 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 wouldn't have had any more luck anywhere else in the country – all the patrol groups I contact clarify that it's very difficult at this time of year.

They project rescuing nearly 10,000 grown amphibians during migration

A message 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 population in the UK, reaches me with the title: "None found." However, in late winter, 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 groups truly achieve? "The reality that people are performing this regularly on chilly, wet and miserable evenings is remarkable," says an researcher. "That's something that very much should be celebrated." However, while rescue teams are able to slow the decline, they can't stop it completely – not least because traffic is not the only threat.

Additional Threats

The global warming has meant longer periods of drought, which cause the poor environment for some of the animals that toads eat, such as invertebrates, while warmer ponds have led to an rise of toxic plants, which can be toxic to toads. Warmer cold seasons also cause toads to wake up from their dormancy more frequently, interfering with the energy conservation vital to their life cycle. Loss of environment – especially the loss of large ponds – is another menace.

Experts are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on biodiversity," but "It's important in just their presence." But toads play an significant part in the ecosystem, eating pretty much any small creatures or small animals they can fit in their mouths and in turn feeding a variety of predators, such as wildlife. Improving situations for toads – such as building water habitats, protecting forests and constructing toad tunnels – "benefits for a wide range of other species."

Cultural Importance

Another reason to try to keep toads around is their "historical significance," adds an expert. Legends and tales around toads date back {centuries|hundred