RANGERS are encouraging dog walkers not to throw their pooches' poo in bushes around Constable Country.

The Constable Country Volunteer Rangers have been alerted to plastic bags filled with dog mess being left on fences and dangling from trees around the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

So the Area of Natural Beauty team is undertaking a survey of the number of dog poo bags which are being left along the footpaths in Constable Country - in particular between Dedham and Fen Bridge.

The area's landscape was made famous by England’s most famous landscape painter, John Constable, and is a designated landscape called the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

More than 200,000 visitors come to the area to follow in Constable's footsteps each year

But this is being spoilt by the number of dog poo bags which are strewn along the footpaths, thrown into trees or discarded by the tree guards.

Councillor Nigel Chapman, chairman of the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Advisory Committee, said: "This project is one way of highlighting the problems with dog mess and plastic dog poo bags in the area.

"Alongside the I’m a Good Dog signage it will hopefully encourage those dog owners who don’t already dispose of their dog poo bags correctly, to Bag It and then Bin It."

The Constable Country Volunteer Rangers walk the footpaths and are the eyes and ears on the ground for the Dedham Vale Visitor Management Group.

They pick up litter, speak to visitors and report any issues along the footpaths.

The six week clean-up project, to end of May, will raise awareness of this problem with the aim of changing dog walkers' behaviour.

The rangers will firstly pick up and count the dog poo bags along the footpath from Dedham to Fen Bridge.

In the middle two weeks they will spray the bags with biodegradable spray and leave them to highlight the problem.

In the final weeks they will pick up and count the dog poo bags again and see if there has been a reduction in the number of bags left.

Mr Chapman added: "Fingers crossed we will see a difference soon, and that everyone helps their dog Be a Good Dog by following the Bag It and Bin It principle."

Where to bin dog mess

  • Dog poo can be put in both your usual black waste sack or in one of the many dog waste bins which can be found in the area.
  • Around Dedham you can use waste bins.