Anti-rat commando's cliff-face raid

David Carter was armed with poison bait and his inaccessible objective was the network of rat holes peppering the cliff face.

The joint operation has been made necessary because of the public's carelessness in disposing of fast-food scraps and packaging.

As a result, the cliff top and cliff face opposite the Coastguard station - a popular parking spot for picnicking motorists - has become infested with rats.

But when Rother investigated the problem in July a further difficulty presented itself - how to get at the more inaccessible rat nests.

Bexhill's Coastguard company, which is trained in cliff rope rescue techniques, immediately offered to lend a hand. But wet weather forced the postponement of the original operation.

On Wednesday evening, Station Officer Dick Rowsell held a safety briefing in the Coastguard station before the team hammered stakes into the cliff top and set up a rescue strop.

Accompanied by Coastguard Rob Layne, David Carter went over the 80ft drop and set to work on the start of what was to prove a lengthy operation involving a thorough check of a considerable length of cliff.

As he worked, the grass above him was littered with pieces of bread put out for thee birds by well-wishers who had ignored fencing and Rother warning signs.

The pest control officer said before he went down: "We have already found about 12 good ones (holes). We have had permanent bait-stations up here for this but this did not seem to cope with the situation so we are now going over to bait the holes actually in the front of the cliff because rats are incredible climbers.

"The problem that we have is that people come and sit up here in their cars and throw their food scraps out of the windows.

"I don't think they realise the seriousness of the problem they are causing."

The work involved pushing bags of poison bait into each hole and then hammering home-made chicken-wire devices into the holes. The wire expands as it goes into the holes, effectively sealing the rats in behind the poison.

For the Coastguard team, the operation provided a training evening with a practical purpose. But their cliff rescue gear had been put to use for real over the Bank Holiday weekend when a boy had become stuck while climbing the crumbling cliff.