A shepherd whose ingenious use of 480 sheep failed to woo his sweetheart managed to get a date at the weekend.

Female Radio One listeners bombarded the station with calls when Marcel Worley's heartbreaking tale was featured on Saturday.

As pictured in The Argus on Friday, the 26-year-old spelt out I (heart) U B MINE in sheep feed on a hillside at Standean Farm, near Ditchling Beacon, then set his flock to munch on the food.

The message written in sheep was intended for his close friend Michelle Legg, who he met ten years ago at Plumpton College, near Lewes. But she turned Marcel down.

Radio One DJ Colin Murray urged female listeners to call if they fancied a date and more than 150 single girls responded.

Marcel was invited to play a Blind Date-type game with two of the girls who got through to the station.

He said: "I asked three questions: If you were an animal what animal would you be? What romantic thing would you do for me? And do you eat sheep?

"It was this last one that decided it - I could never go out with someone who didn't eat meat."

Marcel picked Natasha Simpson, from Arundel, and the pair met on Saturday night for a meal at Radio One's expense - at the Shepherd and Dog pub in Fulking.

Marcel said: "We had a very pleasant evening but I think we will only ever be friends.

"I'm very busy at the moment anyway - it's lambing season so it would be very hard to find time for a girlfriend."