Conservationists battling poachers at a beauty spot are clamping down further in a bid to protect deer.

Bradford Council countryside officers are mounting foot and motorcycle patrols around St Ives and Marley in a bid to crack down on poachers who are killing wildlife.

Wildlife officer Peter Britton said: "Poaching takes on quite a few forms, including the use of firearms, and illegally held firearms.

"The favourite round here at the moment is big running dogs and crossbows, believe it or not."

He said the deer, comprising native roe and fallow introduced in the 1990s, were an important part of the Aire Valley's biodiversity.

He said: "If we lost any more through poaching it would be a tragedy.

"We are doing all we can to protect them, but it's a bit of a battle. We mount evening patrols to go looking for them. The motorcycle guys that cover the woodland, they're quite vigilant. Particularly good now are the police, who have off-road motorbikes.

"If they think they have a chance of being caught, it'll stop them. And when we actually catch them, there will be prosecutions."

Resident David Richardson, who often sees deer near his Cophurst Wood home, said: "There are always problems with poaching. There are quite a group of people further on the valley and that's their hobby, pursuing wildlife. It used to be badgers and now it's deer because you can sell the carcasses."

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said Keighley division had a dedicated wildlife liaison officer who was working with the council to tackle poaching.

He said officers would use powers under the new Hunting Act, which created an offence of hunting a wild mammal with a dog.

The Act also created an offence of allowing land, or permitting a dog belonging to him or her, to be used in unlawful hunting.

The Government is consulting on the UK's growing wild deer population.

Biodiversity Minister Barry Gardiner said that in some parts of the country wild deer were damaging threatened woodlands and causing millions of pounds of damage to crops.

He said: "In addition, they are presenting an increasing hazard on our roads, with more than 300 people injured each year in deer-related road accidents."

People are being asked for their views on proposed changes in the law, including: allowing smaller calibre rifles to be used to shoot smaller species of deer; allowing deer suffering with injury or disease to be killed humanely; reducing the close season, when deer cannot be killed, by two weeks; and allowing licensed taking or killing of deer at night to "protect natural heritage, preserve public health and safety, or prevent serious property damage". The consultation ends on October 24.

Mr Britton said culling was not seen as necessary in the Aire Valley owing to the relatively small deer population there.

e-mail: jonathan.walton@bradford.newsquest.co.uk