Nearly £60,000 of stolen agricultural equipment has been recovered across Somerset this month.

Recently, a Ford New Holland tractor worth £9,000 and McConnel bale grab and spike also worth £9,000 were recovered at Ham Hill near Yeovil on Thursday, (January 20).

They had been reported stolen from Highbridge four weeks earlier.

Also recovered on Tuesday was a 13-tonne capacity trailer worth £10,000.

A John Deere tractor worth £20,000 was found at Cross, near Axbridge on January 15, thanks to information from the public, which had also led police to the trailer too.

They had both been reported stolen from a farm in Warwickshire in August last year.

On January 8, tracking devices fitted to two quad bikes worth £8,000 meant they were found at Ham Hill just hours after they had been reported stolen from Dorchester.

Sgt Stuart Williams of the Rural Crime Team said: “Enquiries are continuing regarding these recoveries, but we’re pleased to have found such high value items in the space of a fortnight.

“Particularly pleasing is that members of the farming community have called in suspicious sightings of machinery, and that two quad bikes had trackers fitted making it easy for us to find them.

“Farms and rural businesses can take advantage of our rural community watch schemes and get crime prevention advice and equipment by getting in touch with their local beat teams, and I urge them to do so.”

The recoveries were also made in conjunction with the Association of Chief Police Officers' specialist agricultural vehicle crime division (AVCIS).