COUNCIL officers from Lewes District Council leapt into action to save more than 80 toads plus a handful of frogs and newts.

The ranger team responded quickly to save the endangered amphibians after they had become trapped in several roadside drains.

The common toads were searching for a place to spend the winter and had inadvertently fallen into the drains.

Knowing that the toads will continue their annual migration, the council officers installed special ‘ladders’, in the drains to help the unwitting creatures make a safe escape from them.

Councillor Isabelle Linington, Cabinet member for Environmental Impact, said: “Common toads are a fabulous species that are sadly becoming increasingly endangered, and we need to protect them.

“The sides of gulley pots in drains are smooth and unclimbable, so unfortunately toads that fall down there are in danger of dying if they are stuck for too long.

“By taking the simple step of installing these ladders inside the gulley pots in popular migratory areas, we are making sure that toads do not get trapped inside.”

The ladders, sourced from the British Herpetological Society, are 90 per cent effective at allowing trapped amphibians to escape, according to an in-depth study.

It is estimated that toad numbers in the UK have fallen by two-thirds in the last 30 years.

One of the reasons for the decline is their use of well-established routes to and from winter resting places which sometimes take them across roads.

The common toad (Bufo bufo) was deemed a ‘Species of Principal Importance in England for the purpose of conserving biodiversity.’