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 running through the Colne Estuary National Nature Reserve in Brightlingsea.

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

He said: “I looked through my window and 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 have no control over their dogs. Their dogs just chase and kill.

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

The land was formerly managed by Essex County Council but is now managed 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 are believed to be owned by a hunting group which would have been letting them run on private land, before getting onto the nature reserve.

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

But 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 and that if the dogs were on the land they would have been dealt with quickly.

A spokesman for Essex Police said: “Police 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 seen and no further reports were made to the police.”