Nature trust seeks stock checkers

The grazing animals help to keep down scrub and bracken

Volunteers are being sought to help check livestock on three Somerset nature reserves.

Their duties would include counting ponies, sheep and goats which graze on grassland in Langford Heathfield, Catcott Heath and Westhay Moor.

Somerset Wildlife Trust says the animals help to protect local wildlife by keeping down scrub and bracken.

Volunteers would need to give up several hours a week and be fit enough to walk over uneven ground.

Senior reserves officer David Northcote-Wright said: "We have to count stock for various reasons. These sites are difficult to graze, there are electric fences and the ground can be wet.

"We need grazing to sustain the wildlife interest, but unless we keep an eye on the stock, the owners would be unwilling to put their animals on our reserves."