A WALK on Marley Common or Blackdown could put you in the pink in more ways than one.

In an effort to highlight the extent of dog fouling around the car parks on National Trust land, head warden Dudley Malone decided enough was enough and spray painted dog droppings fluorescent pink.

Haslemere resident Will Cuthbert from Longdene Road is not amused and wrote to the Haslemere Herald.

"I can only surmise that is the National Trust going for the National Lampoon's daftest job title prize or are they trying to get dog owners off on a guilt trip about not clearing away droppings?" he asks.

He believes that "it could be invaluable for people who like to go for walks at night as long as you stay between the fluorescent markers on your path."

To help with any confusion, Mr Cuthbert suggests tongue-in-cheek: "Why not paint the droppings on the left pink, and the right orange, to aid navigation?"

Just to make sure there are no bad feelings, Mr Cuthbert thanks the NT for maintaining "the wonderful woodland around Haslemere but asks: "Please stop being "anti-doggist". We are your biggest customers, Patch is only doing the same as Yogi Bear."

Crispin Scott, the NT property manager for the area said there is a serious message involved."It is a short-term one-off measure to illustrate the extent of the problem and has been generally welcomed by local people."

He said that the problem had eased during the foot-and- mouth restrictions with "preliminary evidence that ground nesting birds benefited because of the lack of dogs".

Mr Scott stressed that there was no intention to restrict dog walking on Blackdown. "We welcome responsible people and their dogs on to the site." The NT is to place a dog mess bin at the Tennysons Lane car park at Blackdown to add to the bin on Marley Common.