Detection dogs taught newt tricks in bid to improve conservation process

Springer spaniel trained to recognise scent of great crested newt with 87% success rate from a distance of 2 metres

From terrorists to drug traffickers, detection dogs are trained to sniff out the most elusive of offenders. Now a springer spaniel called Freya has taken up the scent of another slippery species: the great crested newt.

Sheltering in underground burrows and rocky crevices, these warty amphibians are a protected species under rules overseen by Natural England. Boris Johnson previously complained that newt-counting delays had become “a massive drag on the prosperity of this country” because building developers must search for, and move them, before construction projects can begin.