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It is Friday night at 7:30, but instead of going out or relaxing at home, I've caught a train to a market town in the countryside to meet up with volunteers from a toad patrol. These committed people give up their evenings to protect the native amphibian community.

An Alarming Decline in Population

The common toad is becoming increasingly rare. A recent research led by an wildlife conservation group revealed that the British common toad numbers have almost halved since the mid-1980s. Observing a creature that has been a fixture of the British countryside in decrease is labeled "worrying" by researchers. Toads "don't require very particular environments" and "should be able to live successfully in the majority of areas in Britain," so if even they are struggling to persist, "it indicates that things are not as they should be."

The UK toad population has almost halved since 1985

The Danger from Traffic

Though the research didn't cover the reasons for the drop, cars certainly plays a part. Calculations indicate that 20 tonnes of toads are crushed on UK roads annually – in other words, several hundred thousand. Unlike frogs, which might be happy to mate "if you left out a bucket of water," toads favor big bodies of water. Their capacity to stay out of water for longer than frogs means they can travel further to find them – often hundreds of metres. They tend to follow their traditional paths – it's common for adult toads to return to their birth pond to mate.

Breeding Patterns

Fittingly, the first toads begin their quest for a mate around February 14th, but some move as far as April, until it gets dark and travelling through the night. During that period, toads begin migrating from where they have been hibernating "all pretty much at the same time."

One volunteer, who was raised in the area and has been working to save its toad population since he was a boy, explains that "They've got just one focus: to go and mate." If their path crosses a road, they could all get run over, and that mating period would be lost – stopping a next generation of toads from being produced.

Toad Patrols Across the UK

Seeing hundreds of toad carcasses on local roads "inherently strikes a chord with people," and has resulted in the formation of rescue teams across the UK – hundreds of organizations are currently registered with a national initiative. These groups collect toads and transport them over streets in containers, as well as counting the number of toads they encounter and advocating for other safety solutions, such as blocked roads and underground wildlife tunnels.

Volunteers tend to operate during the migration season, when toad crossings are more regular. However, this means they can miss groups of toadlets, which, having existed as eggs and then tadpoles, leave their ponds over an irregular timetable in the end of summer. Because of their small stature – just a couple of cm wide – "they are destroyed by vehicles." And as being run over "basically turns them into mush," it's more difficult to get data on them. At least when adult toads are lost, their carcasses can be tallied.

Annual Work

Unlike many groups, one local team, who are in their eighth year of functioning, go out throughout the year – not every night, but when conditions are damp, or if a member has reported about a amphibian spotting in their group chat. 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 dry day – but a few of the helpers willingly accept to walk up and down their route with me and see what we can find. "Should anyone can find any toads tonight, that pair will find one," says the patrol manager, indicating her teenage child and the experienced member. 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.

Community Participation

The family duo became part of the group a while back. The teenager loves all things nature-related and has an ambition to become a conservationist, so his mother started to search for activities they could do jointly to protect native animals. Now she loves it as much as he does, the 41-year-old small business owner tells me – so when the team was looking for a fresh coordinator recently, she decided to step up.

The youth, too, has been instrumental in the group. A clip he made, imploring the local council to block a road through a nature reserve during migration season, influenced the outcome the group's way. After a year of campaigning, the council agreed to an "restricted access" restriction between 5pm and 5am from February through to spring. Most drivers duly avoided the road.

Additional Species and Difficulties

A few vehicles go by when I'm out on duty and we find some casualties as a consequence – no amphibians, but three squashed newts. We spot one live amphibian as well, and the teenager is particularly pleased to see a harvestman, which moves in his palms. Yet despite the group's hardest attempts to let me see a toad, the native community has obviously gone dormant for the colder months. It seems that I couldn't have found any more luck elsewhere in the country – all the patrol groups I reach out to clarify that it's very difficult at this season.

This team anticipates assisting around ten thousand mature toads over the street

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 biggest tracked toad population in the UK, arrives in my inbox with the title: "None found." However, in late winter, he tells me, the team plans to assist around 10,000 adult toads across the road.

Effectiveness and Challenges

What level of impact can these groups actually make? "The fact that volunteers are doing this consistently on chilly, wet and miserable late nights is remarkable," says an researcher. "This effort that very much deserves recognition." However, while rescue teams are able to reduce the drop, they cannot prevent it entirely – partly since traffic is just one danger.

Additional Threats

The climate crisis has meant extended spells of drought, which cause the wrong conditions for some of the animals that toads consume, such as worms and slugs, while higher water temperatures have led to an rise of blue-green algae, which can be harmful to toads. Warmer cold seasons also lead toads to wake up from their dormancy more often, disrupting the energy conservation crucial to their existence. Loss of environment – particularly the disappearance of large ponds – is another menace.

Researchers are "often concerned about putting too much of a utilitarian spin on wildlife," but "There is a big value in just their presence." But toads play an significant part in the food chain, eating almost any small creatures or tiny organisms they can swallow and in turn feeding a number of birds and mammals, such as wildlife. Enhancing situations for toads – ie creating more ponds, protecting forests and constructing amphibian passages – "benefits for a wide range of additional wildlife."

Historical Importance

Another reason to work to preserve toads around is their "important cultural value," adds an expert. Myths and folklore around toads date back {centuries|hundred