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It's a Friday night at 7:30, but instead of heading to the pub or watching a film, I've taken a train to a town in Wiltshire to join volunteers from a amphibian rescue group. These committed people give up their evenings to safeguard the native amphibian community.

A Worrying Decline in Numbers

The common toad is becoming increasingly uncommon. A recent study conducted by an wildlife conservation group showed that the UK toad population have almost halved since the mid-1980s. Seeing a species that has been a fixture of the UK landscape in decline is labeled "concerning" by researchers. Toads "don't need very specific conditions" and "ought to live quite well in most of habitats in the UK," so if even they are not managing to survive, "it kind of suggests that things are not as they should be."

The UK toad population has almost halved since 1985

The Threat from Traffic

Though the study didn't cover the causes for the drop, traffic is a major factor. Calculations indicate that 20 tons of toads are killed on UK roads every year – in other words, several hundred thousand. In contrast to frogs, which might be happy to mate "if you left out a bucket of water," toads prefer big bodies of water. Their capacity to remain away from water for more time than frogs allows they can journey farther to find them – sometimes long distances. They tend to follow their traditional paths – it's common for adult toads to return to their natal pond to mate.

Breeding Patterns

Fittingly, the initial amphibians begin their quest for a partner around Valentine's day, but others travel as far as April, waiting until it gets night and travelling after sunset. During that time, toads begin migrating from where they have been hibernating "all pretty much at the same time."

One volunteer, who grew up in the region and has been working to save its toad population since he was a child, explains that "They've got just one focus: to go and have an orgy." If their route crosses a road, they could all get run over, and that mating period would be lost – stopping a new generation of toads from being produced.

Rescue Groups Across the United Kingdom

Seeing hundreds of toad carcasses on nearby streets "resonates deeply with people," and has led to the formation of rescue teams throughout the UK – 274 groups are currently registered with a national initiative. These teams pick up toads and transport them over streets in containers, as well as recording the number of toads they find and lobbying for other protection measures, such as blocked roads and amphibian passages.

Volunteers usually work during the migration season, when toad crossings are more regular. However, this means they can miss numbers of young toads, 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 are destroyed by vehicles." And as being hit "essentially crushes them," it's harder to get data on them. At least when mature amphibians are lost, their remains can be counted.

Year-Round Work

In contrast to many groups, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth season of operating, go out year-round – not nightly, but when weather are damp, or if a member has reported about a toad sighting in their messaging app. When I request to accompany them on patrol, they admit it is "not ideal conditions" – winter dormancy has started and it's been a arid period – but several of the helpers gamely agree to walk up and down their route with me and search for any toads. "Should anyone can locate any toads tonight, those two will spot one," says the group coordinator, indicating her 14-year-old son and the longtime volunteer. We've been out for two hours without a glimpse of any amphibians, and now they have climbed over a barbed wire fence to check under some logs.

Family Participation

The family duo became part of 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 together to help native animals. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the 41-year-old small business owner tells me – so when the group was seeking a new manager lately, she volunteered for the role.

The youth, too, has played an important role in the organization. A clip he created, urging the municipal authority to block a street through a nature reserve during breeding time, influenced the outcome the team's way. After a year of lobbying, the council agreed to an "restricted access" rule between 5pm and 5am from late winter through to April. Most drivers duly avoided the road.

Other Wildlife and Difficulties

A few vehicles go past when I'm out on duty and we find some victims as a result – no amphibians, but three squashed newts. We see one living newt as well, and the youngster is especially excited to see a harvestman, which moves in his palms. Yet despite the group's hardest attempts to let me see a toad, the local population 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 reach out to clarify 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 another volunteer, who has generously taken the trouble to look for toads in a noted location, considered the largest accurately monitored toad group in the UK, reaches me with the title: "No toads." However, in late winter, he informs me, the team plans to assist approximately 10,000 adult toads across the road.

Effectiveness and Limitations

What level of impact can these groups truly achieve? "The reality that people are doing this consistently on cold, damp and unpleasant late nights is remarkable," notes an expert. "This effort that very much deserves recognition." However, while rescue teams are able to slow the decline, they can't stop it completely – not least because vehicles is just one danger.

Additional Threats

The climate crisis has resulted in extended spells of dry weather, which cause the wrong conditions for some of the animals 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. Warmer cold seasons also lead toads to emerge from their dormancy more often, interfering with the resource preservation crucial to their life cycle. Loss of environment – especially the disappearance of big water bodies – is an additional threat.

Researchers are "often concerned about overemphasizing practical benefits on biodiversity," but "It's important in just their presence." But toads do have an significant part in the ecosystem, eating pretty much any invertebrates or tiny organisms they can fit in their mouths and in turn sustaining a variety of predators, such as hedgehogs and otters. Improving situations for toads – ie creating more ponds, conserving woodland and constructing toad tunnels – "benefits for a whole bunch of other species."

Cultural Importance

An additional motive to try to keep toads around is their "historical significance," notes an expert. Myths and folklore around toads date back {centuries|hundred