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It's a Friday evening at half past seven, 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 sacrifice their evenings to protect the local toad population.

An Alarming Drop in Numbers

The Bufo bufo is becoming increasingly rare. A latest study led by an amphibian and reptile charity showed that the UK toad population have dropped by half since 1985. Seeing a species that has been a stalwart of the British countryside in decrease is labeled "worrying" by experts. Toads "don't need very specific conditions" and "should be able to live quite well in the majority of habitats in the UK," meaning if even they are not managing to survive, "it kind of suggests that the ecosystem is unbalanced."

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

The Threat from Traffic

Though the research didn't examine the reasons for the decline, traffic is a major factor. Estimates indicate that 20 tonnes of toads are killed on British roads annually – in other words, several hundred thousand. Unlike frogs, which would probably be content 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 means they can journey farther to reach them – often long distances. They tend to stick to their ancestral migration routes – it's typical for adult toads to return to their natal pond to mate.

Breeding Habits

Fittingly, the first toads start their journey for a mate around Valentine's day, but others travel as late as April, waiting until it gets dark and moving 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 region and has been working to save its amphibians since he was a child, explains that "Their sole purpose: to go and have an orgy." If their path crosses a street, they could all get run over, and that mating period would never happen – preventing a next generation of toads from being born.

Toad Patrols Throughout the UK

Finding hundreds of dead toads on nearby streets "resonates deeply with people," and has resulted in the creation of rescue teams throughout the UK – hundreds of organizations are currently registered with a national initiative. These teams collect toads and carry them across roads in buckets, 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 migration season, when amphibian movements are frequent. However, this implies they can miss numbers of toadlets, which, having been eggs and then tadpoles, exit their water habitats over an unpredictable schedule in late summer. Because of their size – just a couple of cm wide – "they are destroyed by vehicles." And as being run over "essentially crushes them," it's more difficult to get data on them. At least when mature amphibians are killed, their remains can be tallied.

Year-Round Efforts

In contrast to many groups, one local team, who are in their eighth season of functioning, go out throughout the year – not every night, but when weather are damp, or if someone has reported about a amphibian spotting in their messaging app. When I ask to join them on duty, they admit it is "not a toady night" – toad hibernation season 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 see what we can find. "If anyone can find any toads tonight, those two will find one," says the group coordinator, pointing to her teenage child and the longtime volunteer. After for 120 minutes without a single toad sighting, and now they have scaled a wire barrier to check under some logs.

Community Involvement

The family duo became part of the group a year and a half ago. The teenager adores all things wildlife and has an goal to become a environmentalist, so his mother started to look for activities they could do together to protect local wildlife. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the middle-aged small business owner tells me – so when the team was looking for a fresh coordinator lately, she volunteered for the role.

The teenager, too, has played an important role in the group. A clip he made, urging the municipal authority to close a street through a protected area during migration season, swung the decision the group's way. After a twelve months of lobbying, the authority agreed to an "access-only" restriction between 5pm and 5am from late winter through to spring. Most drivers duly avoided the road.

Other Wildlife and Challenges

Several cars go past when I'm out on patrol and we discover some victims as a consequence – no amphibians, but several crushed salamanders. We see one live amphibian as well, and the youngster is particularly pleased to see a daddy longlegs, which moves in his hands. Yet despite the team's hardest attempts to let me see a toad, the local population has clearly settled down for the winter. It seems that I couldn't have found any better success elsewhere in the country – all the patrol groups I reach out to explain that it's very difficult at this season.

The group expects to help approximately 10,000 adult toads across the road

One email I get from another volunteer, who has kindly made the effort to check for toads in a famous site, considered the biggest tracked toad group in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the subject line: "None found." However, in February and March, he tells me, the group expects to help approximately ten thousand adult toads across the road.

Impact and Limitations

What level of impact can these groups actually make? "The fact that volunteers are performing this consistently on chilly, wet and miserable late nights is remarkable," notes an researcher. "That's something that very much should be celebrated." However, while rescue teams are able to slow the decline, they cannot prevent it entirely – not least because vehicles is not the only threat.

Other Dangers

The climate crisis has meant extended spells of drought, which create the poor environment for some of the animals that toads consume, such as invertebrates, while warmer ponds have caused an rise of toxic plants, which can be toxic to toads. Milder winters also cause toads to emerge from their hibernation more often, disrupting the resource preservation crucial to their life cycle. Loss of environment – especially the loss of large ponds – is an additional threat.

Experts are "always a bit worried about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on biodiversity," however "It's important in just having these animals around." But toads do have an significant part in the food chain, eating pretty much any small creatures or small animals they can swallow and in turn feeding a variety of birds and mammals, such as wildlife. Enhancing conditions for toads – ie creating more ponds, conserving woodland and installing toad tunnels – "benefits for a wide range of other species."

Historical Importance

Another reason to work to preserve toads around is their "historical significance," notes an specialist. Legends and tales around toads go back {centuries|hundred