A WORRYING trend has started in recent years of leaving Halloween pumpkins in woodland areas, says the Woodland Trust.

The UK's largest woodland conservation charity says the trend is a well-meaning but misguided attempt, to provide food for birds and woodland creatures.

Paul Bunton, engagement and communication officer at the Trust, said: "A myth seems to have built up that leaving pumpkins in woods helps wildlife. People think they're doing a good thing by not binning them in landfill and instead leaving them for nature.

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"But pumpkin flesh can be dangerous for hedgehogs, attracts colonies of rats and also has a really detrimental effect on woodland soils, plants and fungi. We can't leave dumped pumpkins to rot so we end up with an orange mushy mess to deal with at many of our sites."

The Trust's website suggests making a pumpkin birdfeeder for the garden, which should be kept high off the ground well away from hedgehogs.

Pumpkins take a long time to decompose and as they rot, they damage delicate woodland ecosystems.

Trevor Weeks, from East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service, added hedgehogs are 'opportunistic eaters and they spend autumn and early winter building up their fat reserves for hibernation'.

He added: "As a result, hedgehogs can gorge themselves on easily available food like dumped pumpkins."