A NON-native terrapin has been spotted on the banks of a Worcestershire canal.

Craig Benson, of Droitwich, was able to capture the terrapin on film as he was walking along the canal.

The terrapin can be seen happily sitting along the side of the canal among the grass.

He said: "At first I thought I was seeing things and then I thought it must be a model, toy or an ornament until it moved.

"A cyclist stopped and also said it was a first for him to see it and that his wife would never believe him."

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Wendy Carter, of the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust, confirmed it was a terrapin but was unable to identify the species.

She said: "Terrapins are not native to the UK and it is illegal to release them into the wild. However, we regularly have reports of terrapins on a number of Worcestershire’s watercourses and have previously had reports of ones along the canal in Droitwich.

"Their popularity as pets increased a few years ago when the cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hit our screens; children wanted their very own Ninja Turtle but families didn’t realise how big they grow and the commitment needed to keep them so many have been illegally released into local water bodies."

Aside from terrapins making an exciting animal sighting, they can have a devastating impact on our native wildlife.

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Wendy Carter said: "They’ll eat anything from frogspawn to dragonfly nymphs and when they’re bigger they’ll even eat ducklings and moorhen chicks.

"Where they occur in numbers they can easily upset the delicate checks and balances of our native wildlife.

"The silver lining is that they’re unlikely to breed as the UK temperatures currently aren’t warm enough for long enough to allow their eggs to hatch.

"However, as we’re starting to see the effects of climate change on our weather patterns, this could become an issue and when you consider that they can live for decades, today’s youngsters could not only eat a lot of wildlife now but might be storing up problems for the future."