Midlothian park issue warning to parents after toddler eats poisonous berry

Steps have now been taken to remove all berries on the yew hedge

A busy park in Midlothian has issued a warning to parents after a toddler swallowed a poisonous berry at the weekend.

Dalkeith Country Park, just outside Edinburgh, say steps have now been taken to remove all berries on the yew hedge following the incident.

Staff at the park have issued advice to families and will be putting up clear signage to “ensure the future safety of our visitors”.

Dalkeith Country Park has issued a warning to parents after a toddler swallowed a poisonous berry at the weekend.

In a statement released on Tuesday (November 1), the park said: “In the six years since the park has been open, this is the first incidence of this happening.

“As the safety of our visitors is of paramount importance to us, as soon as we were made aware of it we actively removed all of the berries from the hedge.

“We have also decided on the following actions to ensure the future safety of all our visitors:

- We will be putting up a warning notice beside the Yew hedge to warn visitors of the potential danger from the berries

- We will explore if it's possible to remove the Yew hedge as The Park is a listed landscape. If it is removed, we will aim to re-plant the area with something else, so that there is no net loss of biodiversity. If we can't remove the hedge, we will ensure it is fenced off to prevent future access.

- We will undertake an inspection of all other trees/plants in Fort Douglas to ensure there isn't anything else that could pose a risk to a young child.

“The Park is subjected to a daily safety check and we check all trees after a storm, but we will now introduce a regular check to ensure there are no significant natural health hazards.”