The body of a little girl was partly hidden by high ferns and weeds.

Little more than ten yards from a main road, dense undergrowth and hedgerows would have concealed the site from the thousands of motorists likely to have passed since the body was dumped.

The vegetation would have ensured it was hidden even from a footpath used only by people walking their dogs.

From the road, the only sign of the grim find behind the bushes and trees screening the field was the top of the white police tent erected over the site.

The entire field and the A29, which runs north through the West Sussex countryside from the coast, was sealed off with police tape in the wake of the discovery, casting an eerie silence over an area usually thundering with traffic.

Yesterday, during scenes of intense police activity, access was restricted through police road blocks as white-suited scenes-of-crime officers began scouring the area for evidence as to how the body came to be there.

Officers said the body, face-down and partially covered, had clearly lain undiscovered for some time and warned identification could take several days.

They are also aiming to conduct as many tests as possible on the body where it was found, and said it might be several days before it was taken away for more detailed examination.

Dense undergrowth and a deep ditch make access to the spot difficult.

The Tarmac footpath, which runs 60 yards from the site, could have provided vehicle access.

It leads on to a smaller gravel track into a field lying fallow with waist-high grasses and purple flowering weeds.

The field, about a mile from the centre of Pulborough, is one of several occupying farmland near Brinsbury College but it is not part of college land.

Whoever reached the spot where the body was found had to step away from the footpath and trace their way around the edge of the field.

Police have refused to identify the person who found the body, except to say he was a local man, or to disclose what he was doing in the field.

But he must have walked off the main footpath and along the bushy hedgerow before making the grisly find, steps that will be retraced by countless officers today.

Yesterday, scenes-of-crime officers could be seen conducting a fingertip search of the area dressed in hooded white suits to stop them from contaminating any evidence.

The search experts appeared to be concentrating on the outskirts of the field, where the tall grasses thinned, before hitting the dense undergrowth between the field and the road.

Twenty officers, including more scenes-of-crime experts, plain-clothes detectives and traffic police in fluorescent jackets, stood by the roadside while they waited for further instructions.

In total, about 100 police officers were at the scene yesterday as the police helicopter circled continuously overhead.

A Home Office pathologist was also present to conduct tests at the site.