ILLEGAL fly tipping in Savernake Forest is not only an eyesore but is putting the environment of the woods at risk says forester Fraser Bradbury.

Lawyer John Moore, who lives in Savernake Forest, sent the Gazette photographs of parts of a wooden shed dumped in the forest over Easter.

Mr Moore said: "Such dumping is, sadly, a regular occurrence and I am sure most of us who enjoy the forest would like the culprits to be punished for this crime."

Mr Moore said that in most cases the rubbish dumped by people would have been taken away upon request by their local council.

He said: "This disgraceful behaviour is not necessary. Perhaps someone will recognise the remains of the shed which was dumped to help identify those responsible."

The Earl of Cardigan, who has run the family's Savernake Estate for many years, said tipping was a perennial problem. Most of the forest is leased to the Forestery Commision's Forest Enterprise but the estate maintains control of an area at the southern end of the Grand Avenue.

If any rubbish is dumped in the area still controlled by the estate, it has to arrange for its removal.

Mr Bradbury, the senior forester with Forest Enterprise at Savernake, said that beside the nuisance problem of dumping it was also causing non-forest plant species to spread into the woods.

He said: "If you look at Savernake you will find a number of non-native species introduced by people dumping garden rubbish."

Mr Bradbury said foreign species introduced to Savernake, probably from garden rubbish, include the two pernicious weeds India balsam and Japanese knot weed.

He said no rubbish of any kind should be dumped in the forest and people should not assume their garden rubbish is harmless.