Until now, conservationists have used plastic bottles to catch the slippery pond dwellers for four nights in a row. But the trust has devised a laboratory test that can detect if newts are present through DNA traces in pond water.
This could cause more headaches for developers who already face a raft of tests from the impact on historic buildings, overseen by English Heritage, to flood risks set by The Environment Agency.
A really poor headline and complete misrepresentation of the facts.
Environmental DNA testing has not been developed to defeat developers but to help reduce costs to developers when survey work is required.