Spawn counts indicate there are 16 female frogs living in Jersey

The Agile frog has almost been wiped out in the British Isles. On Jersey, only one natural site remains.

Now three captive breeding compounds have been constructed at the Frances le Sueur Centre in St Ouen using cash from the Ecology Fund.

It is hoped more money can be secured to find suitable areas in St Brelade's so the frogs that are bred can be returned to their natural surroundings.

Spawn counts

The agile frog can perform a two-metre standing jump, thanks to its long back legs.

Its colouring ranges from green to light brown and it has a black strip across its eyes.

While the population abounds in most of Europe, in the Channel Islands and the UK it is threatened.

In Jersey, spawn counts indicate there are at least 16 females living in natural surroundings. But it is thought there are not many more.

The island's Ecology Fund was set up in 1991 with money from the Amoco Cadiz tanker disaster settlement of 1978.