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It's a Friday evening at 7:30, but rather than going out or watching a film, I've caught a train to a town in Wiltshire to meet up with local helpers from a amphibian rescue group. These committed people give up their nights to safeguard the local toad population.

A Worrying Decline in Numbers

The Bufo bufo is becoming increasingly uncommon. A recent study conducted by an wildlife conservation group showed that the British common toad numbers have almost halved since 1985. Observing a species that has been a fixture of the British countryside in decrease is described as "worrying" by experts. Toads "don't require very specific conditions" and "should be able to live successfully in most of areas in Britain," so if even they are struggling to persist, "it kind of suggests that things are not as they should be."

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

The Danger from Traffic

Though the study didn't cover the reasons for the decline, traffic certainly plays a part. Estimates indicate that 20 tons of toads are killed on British roads every year – in other words, several hundred thousand. Unlike frogs, which would probably be content to mate "with just a bucket of water," toads favor big bodies of water. Their ability to stay out of water for longer than frogs allows they can journey farther to reach them – often long distances. They tend to stick to their traditional paths – it's common for mature amphibians to go back to their natal pond to mate.

Breeding Patterns

Appropriately enough, the initial amphibians begin their quest for a mate around Valentine's day, but some move as far as April, waiting 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."

A local helper, who was raised in the area and has been trying to protect its toad population since he was a boy, explains that "They've got just one focus: to go and mate." If their route 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.

Rescue Groups Throughout the UK

Finding hundreds of dead toads on local roads "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has resulted in the formation of rescue teams throughout the UK – 274 groups are officially listed with a national initiative. These teams pick up toads and carry them over streets in buckets, as well as recording the quantity of toads they encounter and lobbying for other protection measures, such as road closures and amphibian passages.

Patrols tend to operate during the breeding period, when toad crossings are frequent. However, this means they can miss groups of young toads, which, having been eggs and then tadpoles, exit their ponds over an unpredictable schedule in late summer. Because of their size – just one or two centimetres wide – "they can get obliterated by vehicles." And as being hit "basically turns them into mush," it's harder to collect information on them. At least when mature amphibians are killed, their carcasses can be counted.

Year-Round Work

In contrast to most patrols, one local team, who are in their eighth season of functioning, go out year-round – not nightly, but whenever conditions are damp, or if a member has posted about a toad sighting in their messaging app. When I ask to join them on patrol, they admit it is "not ideal conditions" – toad hibernation season has begun and it's been a arid period – but a few of the helpers gamely agree to patrol their route with me and see what we can find. "If anyone can locate any toads tonight, that pair will find one," says the patrol manager, indicating her teenage child and the experienced member. After for 120 minutes without a single toad sighting, and now they have scaled a wire barrier to inspect beneath some logs.

Family Participation

The mother and son joined the group a while back. The teenager loves all things wildlife and has an ambition to become a conservationist, so his mother 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 explains – so when the team was seeking a new manager recently, she volunteered for the role.

The youth, too, has played an important role in the group. A video he made, urging the local council to block a street through a protected area during breeding time, influenced the outcome the team's way. After a twelve months of lobbying, the authority agreed to an "restricted access" restriction between 5pm and 5am from February through to spring. Most drivers duly avoided the route.

Additional Species and Challenges

A few vehicles go past when I'm out on duty and we discover some victims as a result – no toads, but several crushed salamanders. We see one living newt as well, and the youngster is particularly pleased to see a daddy longlegs, which moves in his hands. Yet in spite of the team's hardest attempts to show me a toad, the native community has obviously settled down for the winter. It appears that I couldn't have found any better success elsewhere in the nation – all the patrol groups 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 a different helper, who has kindly made the effort to check for toads in a noted location, thought to be the biggest tracked toad population in the UK, reaches me with the subject line: "None found." However, in late winter, he tells me, the group plans to assist approximately ten thousand mature amphibians over the street.

Impact and Challenges

What level of impact can these groups actually make? "The reality that people are performing this regularly on cold, damp and unpleasant late nights is quite extraordinary," says an researcher. "That's something that very much deserves recognition." However, while toad patrols are able to reduce the drop, they can't stop it completely – not least because vehicles is not the only threat.

Additional Threats

The global warming has resulted in extended spells of dry weather, which create the poor environment for some of the creatures that toads consume, such as invertebrates, while warmer ponds have caused an rise of blue-green algae, which can be toxic to toads. Milder winters also lead toads to emerge from their dormancy more frequently, interfering with the resource preservation vital to their existence. Habitat destruction – particularly the loss of large ponds – is an additional threat.

Researchers are "always a bit worried about overemphasizing practical benefits on biodiversity," but "It's important in just their presence." But toads play an important role in the ecosystem, eating almost any invertebrates or small animals they can swallow and in turn feeding a variety of predators, such as hedgehogs and otters. Improving situations for toads – ie creating more ponds, protecting forests and installing amphibian passages – "benefits for a wide range of other species."

Historical Importance

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