Reserves round up

Head of Conservation

Since the last Durham Wildlife Trust members’ magazine, there have been two major weather events which have kept staff and volunteers busy over the winter months, on top of all their other tasks.

Almost 250 years to the day of the Great Storm of 1771, Storm Arwen arrived to leave a trail of destruction across the North of England and Scotland. Thankfully, Arwen didn’t see a repeat of the floods brought by the Great Storm of 1771 when flood waters reshaped the landscape of the River Wear, including where the Low Barns Nature Reserve is now situated. However, Arwen’s strong winds did see trees at Low Barns and other reserves suffer substantial damage. December was a month of clean-ups across Durham Wildlife Trust’s woodland reserves, and then January brought Storm Malik, creating further problems. Dangerous fallen trees resulted in the second closure of the Low Barns site, and substantial damage was caused to trees at the Trust’s Milkwellburn Wood Nature Reserve. While the weather has done its best to bring trees down, volunteers have been doing their best to outpace the storm damage by planting native broadleaves at Milkwellburn Wood to increase the diversity of the wood. The volunteers have also been contributing towards the planting efforts of the Healing Nature project, and helping to deliver the first new woodland sites to be created as part of the new North East Community Forest.

Away from the wind, November and December saw a new structure installed at Low Barns, situated overlooking Marsden Lake, only a few strides from the visitor centre. The new glass-fronted timber building offers fantastic views across the lake and is open for visitors to use, but its main purpose is to act as a base for Wildlife Watch, Young Rangers, and school groups on site. To complement this new addition, the viewing tower at the centre is being improved with a range of bird boxes installed to show how we can all make a difference for wildlife at home. Thanks to Weardale AAP for supporting the new education hide and tower improvements. The end of the year also marked the completion of the earth works that form the new reedbed at Rainton Meadows, funded by Biffa Award, with volunteers and staff getting the muddiest they have been in a long time, planting out the reeds that will be the main component species of this new area of habitat on site.

Durham Wildlife Trust manages more than 1000 acres of woodland. A large amount of this is ancient woodland. This spring is a great opportunity to get out and about to see the Trust’s woodlands in all their glory. For the best shows of ancient woodland flora, why not plan a trip, this May, to Durham Wildlife Trust reserves at Baal Hill Wood, Edmondsley Wood, Hawthorn Dene, Ousbrough Wood, or our project partners Deepdale Woods? As well as seeing the fruits of our volunteers’ labour, you’ll be treated to spectacular displays of woodland flowers.