Fly-tippers have been branded “feral” after dumping ten bags of party night rubbish at a popular Angus nature reserve.
But the warden at Balgavies Loch, near Forfar hopes the contents of the black bags hold clues to the culprit.
They contained empty booze bottles, drink cans – and strips of raffle tickets.
Reserve warden Jim Hughes believes the rubbish is the remnants of a club night or function somewhere in the area.
He found the bags dumped near the entrance to Balgavies on Monday morning.
The Scottish Wildlife Trust reserve is a popular Angus beauty spot.
It has a loyal visitor following as one of the best known locations in the area to see breeding ospreys.
Cans and bottles
Jim said: “These people have come into the main entrance to the reserve, which is on the Forfar to Friockheim road, and just thrown it out there.
“This is the first incident for years so I was pretty angry when I saw it.
“The bags are full of drink cans and bottles.
“There’s the likes of Tennents and Corona cans and bottles and lots of plastic cups.
“And there are strips and strips of raffle tickets.
“That makes me think it’s rubbish from a club or a function of some sort.
“Maybe someone’s said they’ll have taken the rubbish away to dispose of it properly.
“They’ll have promised to take it away to the skips and maybe the person who had the function is an innocent party who knows nothing about what happened.
“But there might be someone who was at a function and recognises where it might have come from.
“It would probably have been at the weekend.
“The people who do this are just feral,” said Jim.
He added: “There’s no point in reporting it to the police and because it’s private land the council won’t come out to pick it up so it’s left to us to get rid of it.
“It’s really disappointing. There’s not a litter problem here but we have regulars who go around and pick up any rubbish they find.”
Balgavies has been the Angus osprey breeding hotspot since the area’s first recorded chick was born there in 2012.
This summer, three youngsters were successfully reared by the resident pair who return to Angus each spring.
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