Residents will be able to track ten cute Christmas animals in augmented reality (AR) in Burnham-on-Crouch this festive season, as part of a new initiative from Maldon District Council.

In a first of its kind, the council has partnered with the team at High Street Safari, who create AR trails across the UK, to run the trail of Christmas animals across Burnham-on-Crouch High Street.

The Santa Needs You trail, made possible by the council's Welcome Back Fund, opens tomorrow (Wednesday, 1 December) and will run until Friday, 31 December.

There will be 10 window stickers with embedded QR codes in locations along the High Street which players can scan - without needing to download or sign up to anything - to view the computer-generated festive animals and their stories.

Residents can take selfies with the animals and will be invited to vote on their favourite animal once they have collected all 10, as well as being awarded with a free eBook that concludes the story.

A spokesperson for the council said: "Rudolph has taken the year off and opened his spot on the sleigh to the whole animal kingdom.

"It is up to the people of Burnham-on-Crouch to decide who should take his place on the sleigh by visiting the different characters around the town and voting for your favourite animal on the trail.

"The ten animals on the trail have been specially commissioned for the trail and have been modelled in 3D for augmented reality, Pokémon Go style fun."

The trail, which is free of charge, takes around 45 minutes to complete and can be finished over multiple visits.

It has been designed with Covid safety in mind so there is no need to go inside the participating venues, but some participating businesses are offering incentives to come in.

The spokesperson said: "The idea behind the trail is to encourage families to discover the town with a safe, socially-distanced, and ambitious event.

"The trail is a story-driven experience that people can complete in any order and, while being engaging and fun, is designed to encourage people to get out, exercise, and discover the small and independent businesses around Burnham-on-Crouch."