Have you seen this WALLABY? Mysterious marsupials seen roaming rural Nottinghamshire spark appeal from experts amid suggestions they could be living in the wild
- Have you seen the wallaby? Email matthew.cox@mailonline.co.uk
Britons have been urged to report any wallaby sightings after the marsupial was spotted a number of times in Nottinghamshire this summer.
Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust has concluded that the variety of reports makes it unlikely that they escaped alone, suggesting that they are ‘surviving well’.
It is asking the public to report any sightings of the kangaroo-like creatures, native to Australasia and New Guinea, to determine if groups of them live together in the wild.
In August, golfers spotted a wallaby on a course near Southwell, Nottinghamshire, five miles away from where one was spotted in Claverton a month earlier.
Additional sightings have been added to a map released by the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust (NWT), which shows wallabies were spotted more than 20 miles apart – or around 12,000 hops.
Brits have been urged to report any wallaby sightings after the marsupial was spotted a number of times in Nottinghamshire this summer, including this one in Calverton in July
Additional sightings have been added to a map released by the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, which shows wallabies were seen more than 30 kilometers apart – or around 12,000 hops
Attenborough Nature Reserve, managed by the local nature reserve, said: ‘It looks less and less like an isolated, recent escape.
‘The more records are submitted, the better a picture can be built of their likely presence and distribution.’
A spokesperson for NWT said: ‘We believe they are surviving well – we know they are out there.’
However, there is not yet enough data to prove that there is a thriving, established population of wallabies in the area.
After the sighting at Oakmere Golf Club in August, the club’s director of golf, Daryl St John Jones, said: ‘I’ve been here 28 years and we’ve never seen anything like a wallaby.’
He told the BBC: “My head greenkeeper sent me a photo 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 making fun of me. I went there and couldn’t see it myself, so I posted a photo on Facebook and then a member sent in some photos.
‘It’s just completely unique. It’s a real surprise.’
The National Biodiversity Network (NBN) Trust told the BBC it is working with NWT to record sightings of the wallaby.
People are encouraged to report sightings on the NWTs Nature counts page.
They have posted previous reports in Devon, the Peak District, Derbyshire, East Sussex and County Durham with 411 wallabies spotted in Britain, the NBN Trust reported.
Although not native to Britain, the wild marsupials are believed to have survived and reproduced after breaking away from zoos.