Ben hops to it and rescues 40 Wrekin toads

When a Shropshire man decided to take his dog for a walk he was not expecting to hear the chorus of more than 40 toads and frogs.

But that is exactly what happened when Ben Waddams went for a stroll on the north face of The Wrekin as he came across dozens of toads, frogs and shrews stuck in 5ft deep holes. The creatures had fallen into old firing range pits on the landmark and were unable to climb out, so Mr Waddams jumped in and rescued them.

Landowner Peter Holt, of Orleton Hall, near Wellington, today said he was not aware of the incident but he was sure Shropshire Wildlife Trust would contact him.

Mr Holt said the area of land was private and had no public rights of way.

After finding the animals, Mr Waddams said he jumped into some of the holes to try to rescue them.

"Every hole had several animals crawling around, or dead at the bottom," said Mr Waddams. "I jumped into some of the holes and rescued about 40 toads.

"My dog almost fell down. There were carcases of smaller animals and lots of frogs and toads.

"They were just falling in and could not get back out.

"Someone else had obviously stumbled across the same thing and had a similar thought. There were large clumps of moss at the bottom of each hole where the toads, frogs and shrews were covered, whilst they wasted away."

Pete Lambert, of Shropshire Wildlife Trust, said there had been no reports to it about the animals but ad- ded volunteers may be willing to help them if permission to enter the land was given by the Orleton Trust.

Mr Lambert said: "The holes are the old firing pits. They were used to train soldiers for the Great War. The local Home Guard also used it during the 1940s."

He said one solution could be to put a plank in each pit, to act as a ramp.

By Jason Lavan