A dog walker witnessed an unusual display of nature at work as he stumbled upon a snake attempting to catch his dinner.

Jason Dunmall was walking his dogs along an alley at the bottom of Mill Lane, in Shoreham last night when he was alerted to a high-pitched screeching.

On closer inspection, he found what looked like a very large grass snake with a toad in its mouth.

He said: “I was walking my dogs through Shoreham when down an alley I heard what sounded like a small bird screeching.

“That was the toad not very happy with snake for having hold of it.”

Jason said he watched for a minute or so as nature’s food chain played out before his very eyes.

Luckily for the amphibian the snake did not get the ending he had hoped for as his meal managed to jump free.

Jason said: “The snake moved and the toad escaped.”

Jason admits he was scared of what sort of snake it was but has since been reassured it was just a harmless grass snake.

“I had no idea what the snake was at the time so I kept my distance.”