An unauthorised Traveller encampment has been spotted at a local beauty spot and haven for wildlife.

Caravans have been seen at the Medway Council-owned Riverside Country Park in Gillingham.

Police have been informed of their presence at the 247-acre award-winning site along Lower Rainham Road which is popular with ramblers and dog walkers.

A spokesman for the force said: “Kent Police is aware of an unlawful encampment near Riverside County Park and is assisting the landowner where required.”

The park spans a picturesque stretch alongside the Medway Estuary and includes Motney Hill and Berengrave Local Nature Reserve.

There are various habitats within the park, including mudflats and salt marsh, ponds and reedbeds, grassland and scrub, which is home to a wealth of wildlife.

The estuary has special protection as part of the Medway Marshes Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and is internationally important for wintering birds that thrive on the invertebrate-rich mudflats.

Riverside Country Park has received a Green Flag Award, the national standard for quality parks and green spaces.

Unauthorised encampments have been moved on from the site on several occasions over the years.

Earlier this month Travellers were reported at Beechings Way Playing Fields, Twydall, near Gillingham barely a year after fed-up neighbours’ pleas for tougher security measures to be put in place.

It’s understood the site was accessed on the far side of Ruckinge Way.

They were reportedly seen by one resident who took to social media to vent his frustation, adding: “All that money for metal fencing and it is useless.”

A Medway Council spokesperson said: “We are aware of the group and are following a civil legal process to move them on.”

Under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, police in England and Wales were given new powers to address harms caused by unauthorised encampments and new guidance was published.

It comes amid a chronic shortage of gypsy and traveller sites across the UK.