Wallaby on the loose spotted on golf course

Staff at the golf club said they had reported the sighting to Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust

A wallaby on the loose in Nottinghamshire has been spotted wandering around a village golf course.

The marsupial has been sighted by staff and club members at Oakmere Golf Club, near Southwell, multiple times over the past week.

It comes after multiple wallaby sightings were made five miles away in Calverton towards the end of July.

Daryl St John Jones, from the golf club, said it was “a real surprise” when he was told of the sighting.

“My head greenkeeper sent me a photograph after seeing this animal, which looked like a wallaby on the golf course,” said Mr St John Jones, director of golf at the club.

“I thought it was a bit strange and that he was winding me up. I went down there and couldn’t see it myself, so I posted a picture on Facebook, and then a member sent in some photographs.

“I’ve been here for 28 years, and we’ve never seen anything like a wallaby – it’s just completely unique. It’s a real surprise.”

Daryl St John Jones said the club had nicknamed the wallaby “Skippy”

The animal, which is native to Australasia and New Guinea, was first seen on 29 July by the club’s groundkeeper.

It was then seen on the course again by golfers on 30 and 31 July.

The National Biodiversity Network (NBN) Trust said it was working with Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust to keep a record of the wallaby sightings.

Mandy Henshall, communications and engagement manager for the NBN Trust, said there had been 411 sightings of wallabies across the UK since the early 1950s.

She told the BBC: “I guess you would say it’s still quite rare to have a sighting of a wallaby. A lot of the records of sightings we have are on the Isle of Man and others are spread around the UK.

“Wildlife records and data are so important in terms of helping researchers who are looking into the spread of non-native species or developers who are wanting to plan a new housing development.

“Every record is really important for building up a picture of nature in the UK at the moment.”

People who spot wallabies are urged to log the sighting on the wildlife trust's “Nature Counts” section of its website