STEP outside and it’s clear to see that spring is tantalisingly close.

Snowdrops and primroses are in flower, the days are longer and brighter, and birds are busy preparing for the season ahead.

The great outdoors is becoming very attractive, and it’s unsurprising that more and more of us are keen to explore our local wild places.

Our nature reserves are wonderful walking destinations, and we’re delighted to see so many people enjoying them.

However, excitable dogs off leads can be very disruptive to ground nesting birds such as nightjar and woodlark.

These species are protected, and extremely vulnerable when nesting. Disturbance from dogs will flush them from their nests and prevent them from settling, meaning their eggs are left unattended and exposed to the elements.

In recent years both species have nested at nature reserves like Emer Bog and Baddesley Common near Romsey, but despite good availability of breeding habitat, the low breeding success for wood lark and nightjar has been notable.

We’re doing everything we can to ensure that they and their young are able to thrive on our nature reserves, and as part of that we are now asking that dogs are kept on leads between March 1 and August 31 in order to boost breeding success for ground nesting species.

There’s lots of good advice on how to enjoy the countryside with your pooch, without disturbing the wildlife that calls it home, available online – for example look up the South Downs National Park Authority’s Take the Lead campaign.