A woodland site in Bordon was temporarily closed last week following a bomb scare.

A member of the public called the police after finding a suspicious item in the undergrowth in Deadwater Valley Forest last Thursday evening (April 18).

Police attended and sent pictures of the item to the Explosives Ordnance Disposal team which confirmed the item – believed to be a pressure vessel or cylinder – was not explosive.

Although it was a false alarm, police have praised the actions of the caller, insisting it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Staff and volunteers at the Deadwater Valley Trust, which oversees the site, were unaware of the incident until reported by the police the following day, but were not shocked at the call out.

“Due to the history of Bordon as a military training area there are many items of interest that remain hidden on these sites,” said DVT community ranger, Julie Reid.

“Sometimes the nature of these objects is obvious, such as pieces of railway track, and sometimes they are not so clear when they emerge from the ground after many years.

“It is always better to be safe than sorry when dealing with former military sites, as the unexploded bomb that was discovered in Hogmoor Inclosure in 2019 showed us.”