The remains of a Chinese sky lantern found in a north Swindon nature reserve are thought to be linked to the weekly Clap for Our Carers.

The discovery was made by parkrun director Phil Jefferies in some trees in Lark Meadow - one of the fields in Seven Fields Nature - on Sunday when he was doing a litter-pick.

“They’re just such a danger,” said Phil. “Once they’ve gone up you’ve got no control over what they do next or where they come down.

“I don’t know how long it had been there but I suspect it might have been let off on the previous Thursday for the clap for NHS workers,” he said.

Firefighters have recently pleaded for people not to launch sky lanterns support of the health service due to the dangers they pose.

They are typically made of paper with a wire or bamboo frame and are carried into the sky by a candle warming the air inside.

“They float off into the sky burning away,” continued Phil. “And then gradually come down to land somewhere and if they’re still alight then they can cause a fire. One recently came down on top of zoo building in Germany and killed 30 animals in a fire.”

“There are other ways of showing appreciation for the NHS,” he added.

“The staff do a fantastic job and we all want to show our appreciation, but there are better ways to do it than letting of Chinese lanterns that could cause even more stress and strain on that service.

“The last thing the fire service needs is having to deal with burn victims because a lantern has set fire to something.

“Why not show your appreciation by donating money to an NHS charity instead?

"It’s better than spending the money on a lantern that will just burn away and become rubbish.”

Phil also highlighted the danger the lanterns cause to wildlife such as birds who get caught up in them and also to farm animals.

He said: “If these animals end up eating them, especially if they have metal frames, then obviously this will cause all sorts of injury and harm to the animal.”

Phil regularly carries out litter picks round Haydon Wick on behalf of the council and said people need to take more responsibility for their actions.

“It’s disappointing that people have this nature reserve literally on their doorstep, but they’re not treating it as such,” he added.

“Letting these lanterns off is really not nice thing to do. People see them float off into the sky but don’t think about where they’re going to land or what problems they might end up causing.

He said: "It shouldn’t be for others to literally pick up the pieces of what they’ve been doing.”