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It's a Friday evening at 7:30, but instead of going out or relaxing at home, I've taken a train to a market town in the countryside to meet up with local helpers from a amphibian rescue group. These committed people give up their evenings to protect the local toad population.

An Alarming Decline in Numbers

The common toad is becoming increasingly rare. A latest research conducted by an wildlife conservation group showed that the British common toad numbers have dropped by half since the mid-1980s. Seeing a species that has been a stalwart of the British countryside in decrease is described as "worrying" by experts. Toads "don't require very particular environments" and "should be able to live quite well in the majority of areas in Britain," so if even they are not managing to survive, "it indicates that things are not as they should be."

The UK toad population has almost halved since 1985

The Threat from Roads

Though the research didn't examine the causes for the decline, cars certainly plays a part. Calculations indicate that 20 tons of toads are crushed on UK roads annually – in other words, hundreds of thousands. In contrast to frogs, which would probably be happy to mate "with just a small container," toads prefer big bodies of water. Their capacity to stay out of water for longer than frogs means they can journey farther to reach them – often long distances. They tend to stick to their traditional paths – it's typical for adult toads to go back to their birth pond to mate.

Migration Patterns

Appropriately enough, the first toads start their journey for a mate around Valentine's day, but some move as late as April, waiting until it gets night and moving through the night. During that time, toads start moving from wherever they have been overwintering "almost simultaneously."

A local helper, who was raised in the region and has been trying to protect its toad population since he was a child, explains that "Their sole purpose: to go and mate." If their path happens to a street, they could all get run over, and that mating period would be lost – preventing a next generation of toads from being born.

Toad Patrols Throughout the UK

Finding hundreds of dead toads on nearby streets "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has led to the formation of toad patrols across the UK – hundreds of organizations are officially listed with a national initiative. These groups collect toads and transport them over streets in buckets, as well as counting the number of toads they encounter and advocating for other safety solutions, such as road closures and underground wildlife tunnels.

Volunteers tend to operate during the migration season, when amphibian movements are frequent. However, this means they can overlook numbers of young toads, which, having been eggs and then tadpoles, exit their water habitats over an unpredictable schedule in the end of summer. Because of their size – just a couple of cm wide – "they are destroyed by vehicles." And as being hit "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

Unlike many groups, a specific volunteer group, who are in their eighth year of operating, go out year-round – not every night, but whenever conditions are warm and wet, or if a member has reported about a amphibian spotting in their messaging app. When I ask to join them on patrol, they admit it is "not ideal conditions" – winter dormancy has started and it's been a dry day – but a few of the helpers willingly accept to patrol their route with me and search for any toads. "Should anyone can find any toads tonight, that pair will find one," says the group coordinator, pointing to 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 wire barrier to check under some logs.

Community Participation

The family duo joined the patrol a while back. The youngster loves all things wildlife and has an ambition to become a environmentalist, so his mother started to look for activities they could do jointly to help local wildlife. Now she enjoys it as much as he does, the middle-aged entrepreneur tells me – so when the team was looking for a fresh coordinator lately, she decided to step up.

The teenager, too, has been instrumental in the organization. A clip he made, urging the local council to close a road through a nature reserve during breeding time, swung the decision the group's way. After a twelve months of lobbying, the council agreed to an "access-only" restriction between 5pm and 5am from late winter through to April. The majority of motorists duly avoided the road.

Other Wildlife and Difficulties

Several vehicles go by when I'm out on patrol and we discover some casualties as a consequence – no toads, but three squashed newts. We spot one living newt as well, and the teenager is especially excited 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 clearly settled down for the colder months. It appears that I couldn't have found any better success anywhere else 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

A message I receive from a different helper, who has generously made the effort to look 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 February and March, he informs me, the group plans to assist around ten thousand adult toads over the street.

Impact and Challenges

What level of impact can these organizations truly achieve? "The reality that people are performing this consistently on cold, damp and unpleasant late nights is quite extraordinary," notes an expert. "This effort that very much deserves recognition." However, while rescue teams are able to slow the decline, they cannot prevent it entirely – partly since vehicles is not the only threat.

Other Dangers

The climate crisis has resulted in longer periods of dry weather, which create the wrong conditions for some of the creatures that toads consume, such as invertebrates, while warmer ponds have caused an rise of toxic plants, which can be harmful to toads. Milder winters also cause toads to emerge from their hibernation more often, disrupting the resource preservation vital to their existence. Habitat destruction – especially the loss of big water bodies – is another menace.

Researchers are "often concerned about overemphasizing practical benefits on wildlife," however "There is a big value in just having these animals around." But toads play an important role in the ecosystem, eating pretty much any invertebrates or small animals they can swallow and in turn sustaining a variety of predators, such as wildlife. Improving conditions for toads – ie building water habitats, conserving woodland and installing toad tunnels – "we'll improve them for a wide range of other species."

Historical Significance

An additional motive to work to preserve toads around is their "historical significance," adds an expert. Legends and tales around toads go back {centuries|hundred