DOZENS of hounds were spotted running through a nature reserve in an alleged hunt.

David Cowling, 68, described his shock at seeing 60 to 70 dogs at Colne Estuary National Nature Reserve in Brightlingsea.

Mr Cowling heard the “hunt” from his house, which backs on to the reserve, yesterday at 8.10am.

He said: “I saw 60 to 70 dogs running over the reserve.”

Mr Cowling said scores of sheep and cows were trying to get out of the way.

He said: “The owners don’t care. They don’t seem to have have any control over their dogs.

“If there had been a child involved the dogs would have ended up killing it.”

The land, formerly managed by Essex County Council, is now run by Natural England. Ian Black, who manages the land, said: “I have talked to the dog owners before and told them not to use the land.”

Mr Black said the dogs were believed to be owned by a hunting group which would have let them run on private land initially, before getting on to the nature reserve.

Despite the Hunting Act, hunts can still use dogs to pursue trails or some animals, such as rabbits.

It is an offence to hunt on private land without the owner’s permission. The master of the Essex and Suffolk Hunt said it did not know anything about the incident.

A police spokesman said: “We were contacted after a group of people were seen entering a nature reserve in Brightlingsea with hounds.

“They were believed to have left at 8.30am and the landowners informed.

“There was no evidence of hunting and no further reports were made to police.”