A COUPLE found sheep in their front garden after the animals escaped from a nature reserve.

The sheep had been let out of Ladies Mile in Hollingbury, Brighton, and wandered into people’s properties.

Bert Pollington, 80, and his wife Judy, 76, of Mackie Avenue, Brighton, were getting ready to go out when Bert saw the sheep.

Mr Pollington said: “I wondered where the hell they had come from.

“I just happened to stand up and said to my wife: ‘We have got some sheep in the garden.’ She thought I had gone barmy.”

The police were called at about 9am but left the matter with park rangers.

It is thought about 15 sheep had wandered down a side track from the reserve to the road.

Their escape raised fears that they could wander towards the nearby A27.

Two women spotted the animals, which were littering the road with droppings, and tried to shepherd them up to the dead end of Mackie Avenue and back up on to the reserve.

Mr Pollington added: “The two girls had a job keeping them under control as the sheep were going all over the road.”

John Davies, 46, a builder from Kingston, London, was working on the roof of a bungalow looking on to Mackie Avenue when he saw “about a dozen” sheep on the road.

He said: “One wandered in front of a bus. It had to stop. “The council came along in four or five vans to sort it out.”

The incursion comes after about 100 sheep were put on Ladies Mile nature reserve on September 23.

One resident, who did not want to be named, said dog walkers using the reserve were unhappy about the presence of the sheep.

Brighton and Hove City Council said a post was removed and a gate wedged open. It believes it was an act of vandalism and has informed the police.

A spokesman said: “Fortunately the shepherd, with help from some local residents, was able to herd the sheep back to the site and none were injured. “It is appalling that someone would deliberately put animals and people’s welfare at risk in this way.”