A BIRD protection charity is urging people across Hampshire to swap their home comforts for the great outdoors this weekend.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is holding its ‘Big Wild Sleepout’ and it hopes that thousands of people will get involved and discover what wildlife lurks in their garden or at an organised sleepout.

Anyone who takes part in the nocturnal nature watch can help the charity by being sponsored by friends and family.

Speaking about the event, Samantha Stokes, from RSPB South East, said: “Even the most familiar places can seem mysterious when experienced at night – imagine if you settled down and heard an owl calling, a fox barking or peaked out of your tent and saw a bat feeding overhead in the fading light. Or even finally saw that elusive hedgehog that you’ve long suspected calls your garden home.”

For more information about the Big Wild Sleepout, visit rspb.org.uk/sleepout.