HAMPSHIRE wildlife expert Chris Packham has backed calls to reintroduce lynx back into the British countryside.

The presenter said that bringing back lynx, above, would help control the soaring number of deer.

Lynx were wiped out in this country from AD 300 following a campaign led by farmers.

But now a group of wildlife experts want to bring them back to parts of Scotland.

And that is a move that has the support of TV’s Springwatch presenter Chris, from Southampton.

He said: “There are 360,000 roe deer in Scotland at the moment, munching their way through some of the best habitat we have got in the country because we haven’t got a top-of-the-food chain predator.

“Lynx would eat a few sheep but we could compensate the farmers.

“It would be marvellous but public perception is stopping it. As soon as the reintroduction of predators is talked about, people get the idea lynx will be eating children in shopping precincts, which is utterly ridiculous.”