Spate of 'upsetting' vandalism at nature reserve

Police say they will be stepping up patrols at the reserve

Wildlife bosses say repeated vandalism and offensive graffiti at a nature reserve has been "upsetting" for staff and volunteers.

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust said the Attenborough Nature Reserve was attacked again at the weekend.

Erin McDaid, the trust's head of communications, said vandals had targeted the Tower Hide at the reserve.

He said while the damage at the hide - which is temporarily closed due to a safety issue with the steps - had been "minimal", it was "very frustrating" for the trust.

It comes after safety fencing around the under-repair Works Bridge was broken into and "offensive graffiti" written on it.

'Unpleasant clean-up'

"Youths had accessed the platform to get to the Tower Hide," Mr McDaid said.

"They breached the fencing below the Tower Hide and caused some vandalism, some damage and some mess within the Tower Hide.

"It's very frustrating and upsetting but thankfully there doesn't appear to be any structural damage.

"It's an unpleasant clean up job for the team but the hide's intact, so we've got to try to prevent access to the staircase."

Mr McDaid said there had been a number of occurrences of anti-social behaviour at the reserve and nearby properties in recent months.

"Over the past few weeks we've had quite a lot of offensive graffiti appearing on some of the signs which we've been trying to get on top of," he said.

"All of this costs money to resolve and takes our dedicated team away from improving the reserve for wildlife and people."

PC Paul Humphries, from Nottinghamshire Police, said: "In response to recent reports, we are meeting with members of the reserve and have increased patrols in the area.

"Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust carry out fantastic work at the reserve, and we encourage anyone who witnesses anti-social behaviour in the area to report it to us on 101."