Experts on amphibians have been caught on the hop by a rare batch of albino tadpoles living in a garden pond.

Tiny pale globules of frog spawn and tadpoles are now under observation at a secret and closely guarded address in Carmarthenshire, west Wales.

Experts from Froglife were called in after at least four separate blobs of albino spawn were found deposited in the pond.

They believe the "highly unusual" discovery could point to a significant frog population carrying the rare recessive gene for albinism.

No adult albino frogs have so far been discovered but their frog spawn and tadpoles have the characteristic pink eyes and off-white skin colour.

"Albino individuals of adult frogs, toads and newts have been reported in the past, though sightings are considered very rare," a spokesman said.

"Cases of multiple albinistic individuals in a breeding population are even rarer."