The Royal Parks and Sir David Attenborough have begun a campaign to tackle littering in The Royal Parks, including Richmond Park, which it says costs £1.3million per year to clean up.

Recent incidents in London's Royal Parks include a plastic bag tightly wrapped around a stag's mouth, a hedgehog caught on film entangled in a party balloon, and a cormorant with a plastic beer-pack ring round its neck.

The Royal Parks reports that throughout the different lockdowns and beyond, piles of plastic bags filled with left-over picnic waste, pizza boxes, glass bottles, dog poo bags and PPE have been proving hazardous to wildlife.

It warns that:

- Small animals and birds can climb inside plastic bags or get their heads stuck in bottles or cans and suffocate.

- Wildlife attracted to left-over scraps can accidently eat plastic waste, clogging up their intestines, causing them pain or even death by starvation.

- Deer become distressed if they get plastic bags tangled in their antlers and can cause a stampede which is dangerous to the public.

Sir David Attenborough, said: "In busy London, the Royal Parks are a haven for wildlife and there are simple things we can all do to protect it and help it thrive.

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"Litter, and especially plastic, is a growing danger to wildlife worldwide, and we can all help by taking it home or using the bins.

"Please also leave the wildflowers and fungi, the acorns and deadwood where they are; all of them are vital parts of the Parks' ecology.

"Remember to tread lightly and leave no trace of your visit."

The Royal Parks charity, which manages Richmond Park as well as the seven other historic parks and other important green spaces in the capital, is highlighting the impact of discarded trash on wildlife as part of its 'Help Nature Thrive' campaign this summer.

The campaign is asking visitors to 'leave no trace' and to take their rubbish home or put it in the bins if there is space. It is illegal to leave litter in the Royal Parks and, under the park regulations, offenders could be fined.

It costs the Royal Parks charity at least £1.3million a year to collect and dispose of litter discarded across the 5,000 acres of parkland in order to protect wildlife and keep the parks beautiful.

Visitors are also reminded to leave no trace by not lighting BBQs, which are not permitted in the parks and which can prove hazardous to wildlife, particularly when the grass is dry.