Member Article

Watch the world go by courtesy of charity lottery

Nature lovers visiting two nature reserves in south Northumberland this summer will now have somewhere to rest their legs and watch the world go by, thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

Support from the charity lottery has enabled a team of volunteers from Northumberland Wildlife Trust to install a number of individually crafted benches on its Tony’s Patch and Juliet’s Wood reserves.

The Tony’s Patch benches have been made from a number of non-native conifers which had been taken down on the site as part of a habitat improvement plan, and replaced with a variety of native broad leafed trees including oak and hazel. Inspired by this, the same team made a series of oak benches on the Juliet’s Wood reserve, out of trees blown down on the site at the start of the year.

Situated 1km north of Slaley Village, Juliet’s Wood is a haven for a variety of birds including barn, tawny and little owls, wood warbler, pied flycatcher and tree creeper. Badger, roe deer, stoat and weasel are also regular visitors to the site.

Tony’s Patch, lying 2km North West of Haydon Bridge, is a small site but a keen favourite amongst wildlife watchers. In spring, parts of the woodland floor become a carpet of bluebells with a small burn running through the woodland with wetter woodland areas along the valley bottom.

Speaking about the bench project, Peter Ernst, Northumberland Wildlife Trust Estates Officer said: “It’s not always the big projects which makes the support from People’s Postcode Lottery so welcome, small projects such as this one allow can give just as much satisfaction as the bigger conservation tasks.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sue Bishop .