Roebuck 155 - Winter 2021

The member magazine for Northumberland Wildlife Trust Winter 2021 | 155 Roebuck Outdoor upcycling Recycle your way to a wilder garden Wild and well Dr Amir Khan on the healing powers of nature 6 places to see... Birds of Prey Where to see the sky’s top predators

Welcome 4 People power will drive us forward As I write, politicians from across the globe are gathering in Glasgow for the COP26 summit on climate breakdown, which will also address the related crisis of biodiversity loss, caused by human activity. Whatever is or isn’t agreed in Glasgow, at the Trust, we aim to do our bit towards saving the planet and are seizing every chance to restore nature and reduce carbon emissions, which is why our appeal to help fund a ginormous area of rewilding at Druridge Bay - West Chevington, is so important. It’s a chance to develop a totally nature-centric large scale lowland project on once despoiled land, a real rewilding phoenix rising from the ‘ashes’ of coal exploitation. Please support our campaign and donate to the appeal to help nature mend itself. We are also involved in exciting partnerships around Kielder, Redesdale and Hadrian’s Wall taking a landscape approach to nature recovery and the whole environment. There is a lot to do and we need your support even more. But it’s not all to do with land or reintroducing, conserving and encouraging species - it’s about people - you, me… everybody. People power and our innate human love of nature is ultimately what will deliver action and change on climate and biodiversity. It’s our job to make sure we work together to bring lost nature back to life for the good of everybody - that’s our plan for the next 50 years. Chief Executive Northumberland Wildlife Trust Follow me on twitter @Mike_Pratt_NWT Mike Pratt: Jacky Seery. hare: G Northumberland Wildlife Trust Get in touch Roebuck is the membership magazine for Northumberland Wildlife Trust is a member of the Roebuck Magazine Team Northumberland Wildlife Trust UK’s largest voluntary organisation concerned with Editor Fiona Dryden Email [email protected] all aspects of wildlife protection - The Wildlife Trusts. Designer Richard Clark Telephone (0191) 284 6884 Consultant Editor Sophie Stafford Address Garden House, St Nicholas Park, Gosforth, For The Wildlife Trusts Consultant Designer Tina Smith Hobson Editor Tom Hibbert Designer Ben Cook Newcastle upon Tyne NE3 3XT. Roebuck is printed on Registered charity number 221819 Cover: Short-eared owl © Luke Massey/2020VISION Registered company number 00717813 Website nwt.org.uk facebook.com/northumberlandwt twitter.com/northwildlife instagram.com/northwildlife 2 Roebuck | Winter 2021

7 20 Contents 22 4 Your wild winter GRAHAM DIXON. blackbird: amy lewis. Red squirrel: Mark Hamblin/2020vision. surveying: alice mccourt. The best of the season’s wildlife and where to enjoy it on your local patch 10 Wild reserves Why winter is the best time of year to visit these Wildlife Trust reserves 13 Wild thoughts The Wildlife Trusts ambassador, Dr Amir Khan, prescribes a dose of nature 16 Wild news The latest regional and national news from The Wildlife Trusts 23 Focus on: Hauxley A new look for Hauxley Wildlife Discovery Centre and The Lookout Café 24 Saltmarshes A ‘super hero’ habitat when it comes to helping combat climate change 28 Rebugging our homes We can all benefit, humans and bugs alike, by rebugging our lives and homes 30 Water voles Restoring Ratty reintroduction project comes to a successful end 32 MOD... securing our wildlife! Trust teams with Ministry of Defence to deliver Revitalising Redesdale project 34 Gardening for wildlife Upcycle your garden for wildlife, reduce waste and save money too 6 ways to get involved with Northumberland Wildlife Trust Membership Help us protect Volunteer Could you donate your Local groups Join one of our the wildlife and countryside you love... and skills and time to look after wildlife? A network of local groups and enjoy learning discover the incredible natural world, on wide range of indoor and outdoor tasks about wildlife. your doorstep nwt.org.uk/membership need doing nwt.org.uk/volunteer nwt.org.uk/local-groups Donate to an appeal From Campaigning You can play Leave a legacy If you’ve had purchasing land to protecting species, a vital role in raising awareness and a lifetime’s pleasure from nature, help exciting projects near you need your lobbying, on local and national issues. ensure its future by leaving us a gift in support. nwt.org.uk/donate nwt.org.uk/campaigns your Will. nwt.org.uk/legacy Roebuck | Winter 2021 3

Your wild winter The best of the season’s wildlife and where to enjoy it Brown hare 4 Roebuck | Winter 2021

Thank you £4pTAo,as5Nr0tamtoh0liwrenutoahc2tnyhh1Rsbia,ruseuypnyhonpearunraalerefrisc’rsosisiunaf4wptgt0ehphtodheoov.GrTettrroreuisoasttk. Winter SPECTACLE hare: graham dixon Brown hares Brown hares are golden brown with a pale belly and white tail, larger than rabbits with long, black-tipped ears and longer, more powerful legs to facilitate fast running - reaching speeds of 45mph when evading predators. They can be spotted all year round in grassland habitats and at woodland edges, however, they are at their most visible in early spring when the breeding season encourages fighting or ‘boxing’. Females can produce three to four litters of two to four young (known as leverets) a year. They don’t use burrows, but make a small depression in the ground among long grass - known as a form. They spend most of the day on or near the form, moving out to feed in the open at night. Brown hares have little legal protection, as they are game animals managed by farmers and landowners, which has resulted in numbers declining; however, the Hunting Act 2002 has made hare coursing with beagles and harriers illegal. SEE THEM THIS winter † Druridge Pools Cresswell, Northumberland NE67 5EG. † East Chevington Druridge Bay, Northumberland NE61 5AX. Roebuck | Winter 2021 5

Your wild winter Sundew Sundew make up one of the largest groups of carnivorous plants. They are ‘flypaper’ plants that trap insects on sticky hairs on the long tentacles protruding from their leaves, each with a sticky gland at the tip. The acidic habitats, which sundews live in, don’t provide enough nutrients, so they have evolved this carnivorous way of life to supplement their diet. The two most common varieties in the UK are the round leaved and great sundew. The ‘dew’ of round-leaved sundews once formed the basis of anti-ageing potions as people believed it was a source of youth and virility as the plant glistens and remains moist even in the fiercest sun. SEE them THIS winter † Whitelee Moor Carter Bar, Northumberland TD8 6PT. † Benshaw Moor between A696 and Winter’s Gibbet Road, Northumberland NE19 1BP. † Butterburn Flow 12km north of Gilsland, Northumberland CA8 7BB. Round-leaved sundewrat: Jon Hawkins - Surrey Hills Photography Rat sundew: geoff dobbinsurban fieldcraft 6 Roebuck | Winter 2021 Rats about town Brown rats are incredibly adaptable risen. They are always in danger from mammals and can be found almost dogs, cats and vehicles. everywhere in the UK, in any habitat - all they need are shelter and food. Over, the past 18 months, humans have changed their daily work and leisure Sporting grey-brown fur, a pointed patterns following Covid-19, which in turn nose, large, bare ears and a long, scaly has had an effect on urban rats which have tail, they are much bigger than any lost their established food sources such as mouse species. litter bins in parks and on pavements. Famously good breeders, a female Despite this, as wild animals, they are brown rat can breed from around three superbly adapted to forage efficiently, months old, and have an average of five breed often and produce enough litters a year, each of up to 12 young. progeny to repopulate, so despite the huge amounts of money spent to combat They have always been present in rats in urban areas, they are able to towns and cities but, with the emergence rebound very quickly - known as the of food outlets and unsecured bins and ‘Boomerang Effect.’ dropped food litter, their numbers have

SEE THIS DO THIS Marvel at the dew and frost on spiders’ webs this Feed the birds this winter as they use the most energy winter. A new web can take many hours to build so be when temperatures drop and their natural seed careful not to damage them. sources become scare. web: Guy Edwardes/2020VISION. blackbird: Amy Lewis. Song thrush: Bob Coyle. Mistle thrush: John Bridges. ian armstrong: peter armstrong. species spotlight until early spring. This blackbird of the hills Top tips is harder to find than the others but is well The thrushes worth the effort. The male is very striking 3 species to spot with a white crescent bib and has a song that Blackbird The thrush family is a surprisingly exactly fits its habitat… a lonely sounding Males are entirely black, large one in Britain and Europe, slow mixture of notes sung from an isolated with a yellow bill and made up of 47 species including crag or tree. yellow ring around the eye. such familiar ones as the robin, and Females are dark brown, even the nightingale. As the year moves on and summer gives with streaking on the chest way to autumn, the mass migration of some and throat. However, the true thrushes that we are species that have bred in the north of Europe most familiar with are the blackbird, song begins and conspicuously includes large Song thrush thrush, mistle thrush, ring ousel, redwing numbers of fieldfares and redwings, which Smaller and browner and fieldfare. Characteristically they are all make landfall all along the Northumberland than a mistle thrush with extremely good singers. coast and further inland after an overnight smaller spotting. Its habit crossing of the North Sea. They use this of repeating song phrases Just think of that lone male blackbird in region as a staging post as they make their distinguishes it from early spring, perched high in a tree or on a way south into Southern Europe for the blackbirds. rooftop, in full song, doing his best to attract winter. a female to the territory that he will defend Mistle thrush against all comers. He sings from various Many of these birds go no further and stay Familiar garden birds seen prominent boundary points around his with us in big noisy flocks throughout the alone, in pairs or family territory to let everyone around know where winter. The fieldfares are easy to pick out groups. Often spotted in he is lord and master. because of their size and the loud chattering the open, they are more calls they make as they fly off, but the small boisterous than the song The same technique is adopted by the song redwing needs a closer look. Very similar to thrush. thrush, but they give you two for the price of the resident song thrush, it gets its name one. Their song is made up of clear phrases from the rusty red feathers on their flanks. and almost all are repeated at least once, sometimes as many as four times, as the bird Along with all these Scandinavian goes through its repertoire. As spring slowly migrants, there are plenty of blackbirds and unfolds, these two birds are the dominant song thrushes in the mix which also stay species in the dawn chorus we can all enjoy with us for the winter. during that wonderful time of year. Mind you, they both carry on singing throughout SEE THEM THIS SUMMER the day as well, just to make sure that they † Priestclose Wood Prudhoe, maximise the chance of finding a mate. Northumberland NE42 5FW. The biggest of our thrushes, the mistle † Arnold Memorial Craster, thrush, starts singing very early in the year, and is not bothered about the weather, Northumberland NE66 3TW. frequently choosing very high trees to sing † Whitelee Moor Carter Bar, from in wind and rain, which is where it gets its old country name, ‘storm cock’, from. This Northumberland TD8 6PT. habit of starting early led to one pair, back in the days of shipyards in Wallsend, actually To find out more please visit our laying eggs in December of one year and website nwt.org.uk/wildlife-explorer fledging young in mid-January of the next. Ian Armstrong is Vice-Chair In complete contrast, ring ousels, one of for Northumberland Wildlife the feature birds of the Northumberland Trust. hills, do not arrive in Northumberland from their Southern European wintering areas Roebuck | Winter 2021 7

HEAR THIS FORAGE FOR THIS Listen out for tawny owls hooting to defend their Colourful autumn berries and foliage for decorations territory or to attract a mate. Hooting male tawny owls to bring the beauty of the natural world into the are often used in media to capture the essence of night. home during the dark winter months. not just for kids Seven wild activities for winter Reignite your love of nature with these really wild things to do leaves: Katrina Martin/2020vision. Reserve: Richard Clark. apple: pixabay.com. Bark: amy lewis. vegetables: pixabay.com 1 New year, new you 2 An apple a day Instead of waiting until the new Who says toffee apples are year, why not make it your resolution just for Halloween and Bonfire now to explore some of the Trust’s Night? Crunchy, sticky toffee 60+ reserves, which are important apples are great any time of internationally, nationally and locally. the year but perfect on chilly Whatever the level of importance autumn and winter days. they all are special in their own way. Our 67-page Nature Reserves Guide contains details on many of the region’s wildlife gems and is available from our online shop nwt.org.uk/ shop. 4 Try shopping local If all our food came from within 20km of where we live, we could save £1.2 billion every year in environmental and congestion costs. Food products in our aisles are often transported via air, sea or land using enormous amounts of fossil fuels that contribute to climate change. They are transported and stored in plastic packaging, which results in waste getting into our seas and harming our precious wildlife. 3 Not to be barked at 5 Spot the winter Whilst out and about this autumn wonders and winter, why not try your hand Download the spotter sheet at bark rubbing? Using thick white and see how many types of paper, pencils or crayons and a bit of birds you can see when out gentle pressure on a tree trunk, you and about or looking out your can make your own unique artwork, window this winter nwt.org. which you can add sparkle to with uk/spotwinterwonders. glitter (biodegradable of course!). 8 Roebuck | Winter 2021

Your wild winter 6 Stars in your eyes 10 upcoming events Host your own stargazing extravaganza this winter. Start Take your pick from this selection of some of the at sunset and wait for the stars best seasonal activities and events close to you to come. Winter is a great time for stargazing, as the skies 1 Weekend wildlife walk 6 History of Druridge Bay tend to be clearer as the air is 4 December 19 January cooler and not as saturated East Chevington, NE61 5BG Hauxley, NE65 0JR with moisture. And, because Walk around the spectacular A fascinating talk on the it gets dark early enough, it’s reserve with the Catch My history of Druridge Bay. perfect for even the youngest Drift team. of children to witness the 7 Photography walk diamond in the sky. 2 Winter trails 22 January 4-5, 11-12 & 18-24 December Elsdon Village Green, NE19 1AD 7 Give composting a go Northumberlandia, NE23 8AU Join photographer Chris How to make simple compost Set off on a walk through Woodcock for a one mile the woodland, searching for photography walk. You will need Ncraatfutre festive clues along the way. † A compost bin, with a lid. An old 8 Photography trail 3 Reuse, reduce, recycle 29 January recycling tub or a smaller ready-made 13 December Otterburn Village, NE19 1JT compost bin (recycled plastic ones Northumberlandia, NE23 8AU Join photographer Chris are available) could save space. Join the Trust for a festive Woodcock for a three and a † A well-drained, easy to access area. crafting event. half mile photography walk. † Green compostable ingredients. † Brown materials like straw and 4 Festive stories 9 Winter tracks and trails scrunched-up paper. 20 December 22 February † A gardening fork. Northumberlandia, NE23 8AU East Chevington, NE61 5BG Join local storyteller Jim Learn about the clues left Grant for festive tales about behind by animals, and have nature and the landscape. fun being a nature detective. How to make 5 Starling walk and talk 10 Camera traps workshop stars: pixabay.com. illustration: corinne welch. druridge bay: Iain robson. † Carefully make holes in the base of your bin if it 13 January 17 March East Chevington, NE61 5BG East Chevington, NE61 5BG doesn’t have any. Then place it on or close to bare soil to let worms wiggle in. Discover the wonderful Learn all about camera † Start putting stuff in... mix brown materials, like straw and paper, with murmurations that take trapping with the Catch My nitrogen-rich ones like veggies and tea bags. place over each year. Drift team. † Stick a fork in and turn over the contents of the bin (ideally Discover more on these and all forthcoming events once a month) to let more (including prices and booking), visit our website air in. The more you turn it, nwt.org.uk/events the quicker you make compost. Druridge Bay † It can take from six months to two years, but when it’s ready you’ll find rich, dark, fabulous compost. Use it! Find more composting tips at wildlifewatch.org.uk/ how-make-compost Roebuck | Winter 2021 9

Weetslade Country Park from panorama to green oasis From the drillhead The drillhead is a reminder that this is a banks can be a busy with butterflies and sculpture on the old pit site borne out of the coal mining industry other insects. heap hill at Weetslade, of the North East. The hill itself was once a a wide panorama of the sharp sided spoil heap, since rounded and As we move into autumn and winter region opens out views landscaped to the shape it is today. The those butterflies, bees and singing skylarks that give the impression main path through the site was a railway have gone until next year, but there is still of a much higher with mine sidings busy with coal filled plenty going on. The woodlands and areas vantage point, out to trucks. of scrub are home to birds that remain the city to the south here year round but are bolstered by some and up towards Cheviot Today the country park is managed winter visitors. Long tailed tits can be in the north. by Northumberland Wildlife Trust in partnership with The Land Trust, who Drillhead sculpture 10 Roebuck | Winter 2021 own the site. It’s a busy place with walkers, horse riders, cyclists, dog walkers and runners all using the network of paths to enjoy the views and the wildlife. With the heavy use by people, one might expect a place lacking in wildlife, but it is actually a remarkable green oasis with plenty of quieter patches still present. Careful grassland management and areas from which the public are excluded have helped make this a great site for birds such as skylark, and the sunny south-facing

our best winter reserves now you do it Visit Weetslade Country Park Know before you go Location: Between Wide Open and Dudley, at the junction of B1319 /A189, NE23 7LZ. Opening times: All day, every day. Access: The main entrance is from the east, where there is a car park alongside High Weetslade Farm (NZ260723). Access is also possible from the west, via two public bridleways which lead from Wide Open. top WILDLIFE TO SPOT Birds include skylark, meadow pipit, grey partridge, linnet, kingfisher, grey heron, bullfinch, yellow hammer, great spotted woodpecker, goldfinch and little egret. You may also see otter, rabbit, Daubenton’s bat, great crested newt, large red damselfly, six-spot burnet moth, green-veined white, small skipper, ringlet, meadow brown, large white and small tortoiseshell. Flora include creeping thistle, rabbit sculpted gorse, yellow- rattle, lady’s bedstraw, common ragwort and viper’s-bugloss. Weetslade Country Park spotted, and more often heard, flitting in the water getting ready to emerge as adults Rabbit sculpted gorse weetslade: richard clark. drillheads: steven morris. gorse: duncan hutt. flocks around the trees and shrubs. next summer. THINGS TO DO The hawthorn berries provide a draw While the main flowering season may † Watch for raptors such the elegant for the throngs of thrushes that arrive on be spring and summer, it is always worth the north east coast from Scandinavia; seeing what you can identify throughout sparrowhawk or the graceful kestrel redwing, fieldfare, song thrushes and the winter. It is remarkable how many hunting for small prey over the grassland. blackbirds can arrive in their hundreds, species can be seen in bloom right through † Look out for our dedicated site wardens finding a welcome feeding place here. the colder months. It’s even become a bit who are there in all weather keeping a More unusual visitors such as waxwing of an event to participate in a New Year watchful eye on the site - they're always and brambling might also be spotted. plant hunt to count the species flowering happy to stop for a chat about the around new year and sites like Weetslade wildlife you can find. Flocks of finches come together in the are ideal locations to get a reasonable tally. † Enjoy a brisk walk to the top of the autumn and winter and these might pit heap hill for stunning views of the be observed around the feeding station Winter is also time for some of our surrounding areas. just set away from the main cycle path. management work such as tree planting Spending a little time here may also be and, conversely, thinning some of the rewarded by views of the great spotted scrub to help maintain open sunny places woodpecker as it drops in for an easy meal. for wildlife on the south facing slopes. So while you are there looking for wildlife you To the west are the ponds and reedbeds may also detect our staff and volunteers where otter have been glimpsed and working hard to make sure this country birds such as heron and little egret feed. park also remains a great place to watch The amphibians and dragonflies won’t wildlife. n be visible again until spring, though the dragonfly nymphs will be busy feeding in Roebuck | Winter 2021 11

our best winter reserves More Northumberland Wildlife Trust nature reserves for a great winter day out Berwick upon Tweed 3 Alnwick Grasslees Burn Wood 2 3 Why now? Kielder At this time of year, the trees will be home to birds such as redstart and fieldfare and Morpeth adorned with mosses and lichens. 1 Weetslade Know before you go Location: 5km north of Elsdon near the Country Park B6341 in Northumberland. Newcastle upon Tyne Open: All day, every day. Wildlife to spot: At the northern end of the site there are butterwort, lousewort and marsh violet. Parts of the site are bracken- dominated but also contain wood sorrel and wood anemone. Birds including pied flycatcher, redstart, wood warbler, cuckoo and woodcock can be spotted. Hexham bakethin: steven morris. Grasslees: nwt. 2 Know before you go Grasslees Location: At the north-western end of Burn Wood Bakethin Kielder Reservoir at Butteryhaugh Bridge in Northumberland. The lowdown Why now? Open: All day, every day. The reserve is an area of ancient semi-rural During the winter months, wildfowl visiting Wildlife to spot: Otter may be seen along woodland containing areas of alder and include pochard, tufted duck, goldeneye, the shoreline. The shallow water margins birch trees in the wetter areas and oak, goosander, mallard and teal. Early and late are valuable spawning grounds for the rowan and ash trees where the ground is in the year whooper swans and barnacle common frog and there is a healthy fish drier. geese can be spotted en-route to or from population including trout, minnow, eels the Arctic. and stone loach. Adder and common lizard The reserve was the first in the area to are regularly recorded and the three ponds have a deer fence installed to exclude roe Reservoir provide excellent habitat for amphibians deer and which has proved successful in the at Bakethin and dragonflies. regeneration of trees, particularly birch. The lowdown The reserves is managed in The reserve was created following the partnership with the Defence Estates and construction of Kielder Dam in 1979. It wraps Northumberland National Park. around the northern edges of Kielder Water and includes open water, wetland, woodland Plan your next great day out and grassland habitats. from all our nature reserves at: nwt.org.uk/nature-reserves 12 Roebuck | Winter 2021

WILD THOUGHTS Dr Amir Khan @DrAmirKhanGP @doctoramirkhan A dose of nature illustration: Dawn Cooper. Profile photo: TOM HAUGHTON I have just come in from the but we can get huge health benefits from wild house call garden, having filled the bird nature as autumn and winter set in too. We You don’t have to travel feeders with sunflower hearts, need that boost to our mental health that far for your dose of topped up the watering station nature gives us more than ever when longer nature. Even in built-up with fresh water and refilled the bowls the nights set in, but the benefits don’t stop areas, there are wild hedgehogs like to eat from with crunchy there. Plants and trees naturally produce wonders to soothe kitten biscuits. As soon as I come inside, a chemicals called phytoncides that help your soul. Listen for the magnificent male bullfinch plonks itself protect them against damage from bacteria, cheerful chirps of house onto one of the feeders and starts eating fungi and insects. As we spend time in green sparrows in the bushes, the seeds, dropping as many onto the floor spaces, we breathe these chemicals in and or the soft cooing of as it manages to get into its mouth. Luckily they can help stimulate our own immune pigeons perched on an opportunistic chaffinch is on clean up systems to produce more natural “killer” buildings. duty, guzzling any seeds the messy bullfinch cells, which are vital for fighting off viruses, drops. It is a lovely scene to watch unfold, perfect for winter when respiratory viruses If you have a garden, calming and beautiful in its simplicity. are more common. Nature can also help we’ve got lots of great Many of you reading this article will be our brains focus better; by spending time tips to help attract familiar with the feeling of positivity that fills looking at wildlife and plants during our even more wildlife at our bodies when we spend time in nature, and breaks at work, we can give the parts of our wildlifetrusts.org/actions as a doctor it is something I am increasingly brain a rest that are needed for attention “prescribing” for my patients. I have to be and focusing, so when we return to work or Dr Amir Khan is an honest, sometimes I do get incredulous looks a task we need to complete, we will be more ambassador for The Wildlife when I suggest a “dose” of time spent in green productive. Being out in natural light is good Trusts. He is an advocate spaces to my patients to help sooth their for improving sleep — so make the most of for Green Prescribing and ailments, either on its own or in conjunction those shorter days and get out there! champions the benefit that with modern medicine; but for those who heed being in nature has on health my advice, I have never had any complaints. Sometimes it can feel difficult to go out and wellbeing. That is because there is scientific if the weather isn’t quite right, but it is evidence that nature is good for us. When important to carry our good summer habits we go outdoors and embrace our natural into autumn and winter. For those who do surroundings our bodies produce less of our go outdoors regularly, spread the word and stress hormone, cortisol, lowering our heart encourage your friends and family to do the rates and blood pressure. We also produce same, so they too can reap the benefits of our more of our “happy” brain chemicals, natural world. dopamine and serotonin, increasing our sense of calm and wellbeing. Find inspiration to get outdoors and discover It is relatively easy to spend time outdoors wildlife this winter with our selection of in the summer months when the sun is seasonal spectacles! shining and everything is more inviting, wildlifetrusts.org/winter-wildlife Roebuck | Winter 2021 13

short-eared owl © danny green/2020vision From a kestrel hovering above a roadside verge to a barn owl drifting over a grassy field, spotting a bird of prey is always a special experience. One of the best things about these feathered predators is that they can be seen almost anywhere – practically any patch of sky could hold a circling buzzard and sparrowhawks often venture into gardens. But some birds of prey have to be sought out, and by visiting a nature reserve you can often see several species in action. Winter is a great time to track down many of our birds of prey, with some roosting in large numbers, others attracted by gatherings of ducks, starlings or other small birds, and some even starting their courtship or territorial displays. 14 Roebuck | Winter 2021

6 places to see See the spectacle 1 birds of prey 2 for yourself 3 45 6 1 E ast Chevington, Northumberland Wildlife Trust Look out for marsh harriers over the lakes and reedbeds of this coastal nature reserve, where large numbers of ducks gather on the water. Barn owls and short-eared owls can be seen hunting the grassier areas. Where: Near Red Row, NE61 5BX 2 Wheldrake Ings, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust In winter, huge flocks of ducks and wading birds visit the flooded fields, often attracting the attention of peregrine falcons. Other birds to look out for include merlins, buzzards, barn owls and sparrowhawks. Where: Near York, YO19 6AX 3 Gors Maen Llwyd, North Wales Wildlife Trust Meaning ‘Bog of the Grey Stone’, Gors Maen Llwyd is named for one particularly large stone deposited by retreating ice sheets. This heather moorland is home to buzzards and kestrels, and you might also find a hen harrier, red kite, merlin or even goshawk. Where: Nantglyn, LL16 5RN 4 Great Fen, The Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs & Northants This vast fenland landscape is a fantastic place to see birds of prey in winter. Kestrels and buzzards are common, with regular sightings of barn owls in the evenings. You could also spot short-eared owls, red kites, marsh harriers or more! Where: New Decoy info point, near Holme, PE7 3EW 5 Hickling Broad, Norfolk Wildlife Trust Witness one of winter’s greatest wildlife spectacles as dozens of marsh harriers come in to roost in the reedbed at Stubbs Mill each evening. They are sometimes joined in the air by hen harriers, merlins and barn owls. The reserve is also home to roosting common cranes. Where: Hickling, NR12 0BW 6 Westhay Moor, Somerset Wildlife Trust The famous flocks of starlings that roost on the Somerset Levels provide a tempting evening snack for peregrine falcons and sparrowhawks. You could also spot marsh harriers, buzzards and barn owls flying above the reedbeds. Where: Glastonbury, BA6 9TX Did you spot any birds of prey? We’d love to know how your search went. Please tweet us your best photos! @wildlifetrusts

wild news 20% off* All the latest regional and national news from The Wildlife Trusts For all NWT members and supporters at Cotswold Outdoors until 31st March 2022. Available online and in store using code AF-WILDLIFE-E1. *terms & conditions apply Whitelee Moor, part of the Border Mires regional From conservation to recovery In the 50 years since Northumberland loss of species and habitats; the state of is needed now and in the future, to make Wildlife Trust was formed, there has been nature itself has declined to a critical everywhere wilder by degree. a massive amount achieved and there is level. It’s not just about saving the best no doubt that many ‘worst case scenarios’ and certain species, it is now even more That is why we are working more with have been avoided, keeping many special about restoration and recovery of whole landowners and farmers to connect wildlife sites and species on the map and connected habitat areas - nature recovery up nature corridors on farmed land, even thriving. networks - to bring wildlife back from the with government agencies and others, brink, or even from local extinction. This to develop nature recovery projects In addition, we were ahead of the game is what we have always done, but it needs across large areas of the uplands and in developing so called ‘bigger, better, more to be at much bigger scale and we need to demonstrating a rewilding approach on joined up’ places, for wildlife to spread have even more urgency and be bolder in restored open cast land at Druridge. We out from. The Border Mires is a great doing this. It’s gloves off time! are also working with a new team across example pf a 50-year effort to repair whole Newcastle and beyond to connect people to ecosystems, not just nature reserves, that So, it is especially right that, in this 50th nature and support them taking action for capture carbon and essentially conserve year, we are gearing up big-style. We are, in wildlife. rare and vulnerable habitats at scale. There fact, moving from a Trust focussed mainly are many other examples such as large on conserving to one that is about massive With bad news on climate and wildlife land holdings at Whitelee and Benshaw. repair and restoration of nature. And always in the media, at times it might Our work on red squirrels, water voles, alongside, reconnecting nature to many seem that we have lost the war and it is many other species and with engaging more people so that they lead and help too late. That is not the case here, and in people with nature, was also ground- drive the work to get nature back. Northumberland and Tyneside, we have breaking and critical. a big opportunity to reverse biodiversity So, if we were just starting out now, NWT loss and are embarking on a bigger and But suddenly the game has changed. would have different emphases and focus more exciting programme to do this. So, the In those 50 years, there has, despite our and do some things differently. Thus, we future does look challenging, yes, but also and many others’ efforts, been incredible are rapidly evolving to enable us to do what exciting and full of potential. 16 Roebuck | Winter 2021

News A driving adventure Gifts in Wills Together we’re stronger with gifts in Wills For more information on leaving a legacy, visit nwt.org.uk/legacy or alternatively contact Dan Venner, Trust Director of Finance and Business on (0191) 284 6884 or email [email protected]. regional We’re so lucky to have such wonderful wildlife and wild places across Adventure map Northumberland, Newcastle and North supporting Wildwood Tyneside. A gift in your Will, no matter how large or small, means that the Online company nland250.com is Arnold Memorial at Craster, Benshaw wildlife and landscapes that inspire you whitelee moor: geoff dobbins. Adventure drive: nland250.com. Joel & harvest mouse: sophie webster. supporting the Trust’s Kielderhead Moor, Falstone Moss, East Crindledykes, today can be enjoyed and experienced Wildwood project via its sales of an all- Ford Moss and Whitelee Moor at Carter by future generations forever. And it new 250-mile adventure route map and Bar. costs you nothing during your lifetime. discovery guide for the county. The guide is the work of David Cook Guardian Angel offers FREE Wills The aptly titled NLAND250 map and and Ella McKendrick who spent two online along with bereavement guide is the ultimate resource to help years devising the 254-mile circular route support. Their online service is safe, wildlife enthusiasts get the best out of ensuring it encompassed the contrasting secure and fully endorsed by legal exploring Northumberland’s adventure landscapes unique to Northumberland. professionals, and can be done from driving route. A 50p donation from every the comfort of your own home. The map sold is being made to the project Now, with over 1,000 maps sold, David process is simple and jargon-free. and Ella have made the first of hopefully From Berwick-upon-Tweed in the many £500 donations to the project, There are two FREE options for you: north of the county to Allenheads in the which is working towards planting trees 1. Online Will Writing, checked by legal south, the route includes a number of across vast swathes of the Scaup Burn Northumberland Wildlife Trust’s nature leading to the Scottish Border. experts reserves including Annstead Dunes, 2. Over the phone, one-to-one support regional Catch My Drift Project It’s free and if you want to include a Trainee Joel Ireland with gift to NWT, even better. An online Mice to see you Will can be completed in as little as a harvest mouse fifteen minutes and is checked by legal A private donation enabled the Catch My Drift experts. project team to release 200 harvest mice onto our East Chevington reserve this summer Step 1: Go to gawill.uk/northwt to further reinforce what is one of the few Step 2: Enter all your details. harvest mice colonies north of the River Tyne. Step 3: Get it checked over by It is hoped the reserve with its extensive Guardian Angel legal experts reed beds will prove a successful breeding Step 4: Get it signed, sealed and ground for the animals that weigh the same as a 10p coin. delivered They were first introduced onto the Or, if you’d rather, you can call up 0800 Druridge Bay site in 2004 by Sam Talbot, 773 4014 and someone will walk you Coast and Countryside Officer with the former through the process. Castle Morpeth Borough Council. Roebuck | Winter 2021 17

uk news UK UPDATE We can’t COP-out on nature Nature has a vital role in combating the climate crisis Protest sign © Markus Spiske on Unsplash This November, world leaders carbon into the atmosphere. Among other asks, The Wildlife Trusts are gathering in Glasgow to Only by integrating climate are calling on Government to: discuss action to tackle the action with nature’s recovery can we „„ Reform the planning system so climate emergency. The 26th achieve a net zero (where the amount UN Climate Change Conference of the of greenhouse gases emitted balances that it helps to address the nature Parties, known as COP26, will bring with the amount taken out of the emergency, by establishing together more than 190 world leaders atmosphere), climate resilient UK where Nature Recovery Networks and tens of thousands of representatives nature is thriving, by 2050. We need all of and creating a new Wildbelt to find solutions to the worsening crisis. our national policies to be contributing designation that protects land Countries will set out their latest plans to nature’s restoration, not degrading it that is being restored for nature. to reduce emissions and attempt to limit further; this includes affording better „„ Sustainable land use practices are global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as protection to the wild places we already adequately incentivised through well as adaptation plans for the changes have, such as upgrading Marine Protected the new Environmental Land that are now inevitable.. Areas to Highly Protected Marine Areas, Management schemes to allow and designating new sites to create more UK agriculture to significantly There is a sense of urgency around this space for nature. contribute to meeting net zero conference, with the effects of current targets and 30% of land in warming becoming increasingly evident, Our 30 by 30 vision, which would see recovery for nature. from record temperatures and widespread the UK restoring at least 30% of land wildfires to an increase in episodes of and sea for nature by 2030, is a minimum To help teachers inspire students about very heavy rainfall and flooding. Changes requirement for nature’s recovery and the habitats that can help combat the to the climate are not just dangerous for depends on commitment and funding climate emergency, we recently launched people, but are also threatening wildlife, from the UK’s governments. Nature can’t a new climate education tool for Key including here in the UK. In the run-up thrive in fractured pockets, we need to Stage Two, Nature’s Climate Heroes. Not to COP26, The Wildlife Trusts have been think bigger and link up our wild places. only is it packed with information, it also working hard to raise awareness of the provides students with positive action connection between nature and climate, However, it’s not just the UK to take, so that they can make their own and to encourage Government to take governments that need to act. We can’t contribution to tackling the issue. For ambitious actions that focus on the achieve nature’s recovery without wide those out of the school room, we’ve also restoration of nature, as well as a reduction support, which is why The Wildlife Trusts created some advice pages, about actions in emissions and improved resilience. are so passionate about empowering you can take in your own life. Together, people to take action. We want to see a we can ensure a wilder future — and to Nature must be at the heart of action wildlife-rich natural world at the heart find out how you can play your part visit on climate. Healthy natural landscapes of everybody’s education and learning wildlifetrusts.org/taking-climate-action can take in carbon and store it, whilst journey, inspiring a connection to nature damaged habitats often release even more that lasts a lifetime. 18 Roebuck | Winter 2021

News UK UPDATE uk highlights Big vision, high ambition – a year of progress This September marked the first establishing England’s first large-scale Discover how 1 anniversary of 30 by 30, our vision for 30% community rewilding project, on 170 The Wildlife Trusts 2 of land and sea to be restored for nature hectares of land near Bere Regis, Dorset. are helping by 2030. In the past year we’ve launched wildlife across 3 some inspirational projects to restore Discover more of our 30 the UK land for nature, from saving meadows by 30 projects at for mountain pansies in Shropshire to wildlifetrusts.org/30-30-30 Great news for gulls restoring rhos pasture in Radnorshire — marshy grasslands home to rare 1 Gull chicks have fledged at South butterflies, curlew and snipe. Thanks to your generous Walney nature reserve for the support, we will continue to bring nature back across first time since 2015, thanks to a new the UK — to link up wild places and protect and repair others. predator-proof fence. Since 2017, Our latest projects include securing more land for nature in Somerset’s Avalon no chicks have survived longer than Marshes, an internationally important Sunflower © Matthew roberts, Whiting inside of jellyfish © Ian Watkin & Cornwall Wildlife Trust, snipe © Andy Rouse/2020vision wetland landscape home to waders, a week, but this summer Cumbria wildfowl, and rare insects and plants, and Wildlife Trust recorded over 100 large and healthy chicks of lesser black- backed gulls and herring gulls — a red-listed and declining species. Find out more at wtru.st/Cumbria-gulls 2 Tadpole triumphs The northern pool frog has been successfully reintroduced to Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Thompson Common, the last place it was recorded before its extinction in Britain in the 1990s. Since 2015, more than 1,000 pool frog tadpoles have been released on the site, with early indications promising that the frogs will form a self-sustaining population. Learn more at wtru.st/frogs-return Vine House Farm grow over 100 acres of sunflowers Sunflower power milestone, with the Covid-19 pandemic 3 Jelly jeopardy prompting more people than ever to Birdfood suppliers, Vine House Farm purchase food for their garden birds. Cornwall Wildlife Trust supporter has generated £2 million to support the Vine House Farm grows 400 acres of bird Ian Watkins spotted the unusual sight conservation work of The Wildlife Trusts. seed crops, including the ever-popular of a whiting trapped inside the bell of For the past 14 years, The Wildlife Trusts sunflower seeds, as well as being a a compass jellyfish, whilst on a walk have been in partnership with the wildlife haven for wildlife in itself, with a thriving during National Marine Week. Juvenile friendly farm in Lincolnshire, with a population of tree sparrows and other fish often hide amongst jellyfish percentage of each purchase of their bird farmland birds. tentacles for protection from predators, seed going to local Wildlife Trusts and Learn more at wtru.st/2-million but are occasionally stung and eaten. helping wildlife across the UK. This year saw the contribution pass the impressive Roebuck | Winter 2021 19

Red squirrel regional Reds holding their own Our native red squirrel never ceases to However, there is no room for and deliver the new Lantra accredited fascinate and intrigue people! There are complacency, as county grey squirrel grey squirrel management training course, hundreds if not thousands of passionate detection is up and still very high (62%). migrating to a new data collation and volunteers, spread across the north of management system with ArcGIS online England and beyond, who are dedicated Management of grey populations and mobile field apps, and working with to the conservation of this enigmatic remains vital, if reds are to continue many of the local community red squirrel and much loved species. We may be thriving, which they surely would not groups across the region. unashamedly biased, but we do believe it do if grey management effort was not at is reasonable to suggest that red squirrels current levels. The RSNE ranger team and seasonal act as a natural ‘barometer’ - measuring or contractors now have a reach that includes perhaps forecasting where the health and The team calculated that the area of Kyloe Forest, Druridge Bay, Harwood, the resilience of our forests are heading. conservation coverage for 2020 equated North Tyne, Kielder, Kershope, Spadeadam, to over 100,000 football fields! Our three North and South Lakes and the North It is therefore encouraging that the 2021 northeast rangers accounted for just over Yorkshire Dales. squirrel monitoring programme results a quarter of this area and community for Northern England, downloadable from volunteers the remainder. We are all kept very busy so are rsne.org/spring-monitoring-programme, delighted to have welcomed Zakira demonstrated that, not only has red The scale of the conservation task is Wong to the RSNE team as Digital squirrel occupancy (the detection % out of daunting, however we must press on and Communications Assistant, via the 253 sites surveyed) remained stable since hold the ‘red line’ until complementary government’s six-month Kickstart 2015, it is actually up and now 53% of sites management measures, such as grey placement scheme. contain reds. squirrel fertility control, pine marten expansion and the recent interest in grey An Environmental Design graduate In Northumberland, numbers have gene editing, have advanced. from Dundee University, Kira is helping us catapulted from 26% in 2019 to 44.7%. This to update our project’s printed materials, is wonderful news! The increase is in part We are doing everything we can to as well as helping us raise our online due to mild winters, abundant autumn ensure our impact stretches far and wide: presence. Busy from day one, Zakira has seed crops and the increased detection from contributing to the government’s already designed and published our new rates in Harwood and Kielder red squirrel upcoming ‘Red Squirrel Action Plan website rsne.org so why not take a look strongholds - likely due to the long-term for England’ to working with Forestry at it, especially our new squirrel sighting grey squirrel management effort invested England and others to bring into existence form and mobile app. there, by the project and local volunteers. formal operational guidance for the forestry industry in red squirrel areas. Additionally, we are helping to develop 20 Roebuck | Winter 2021

News A new venture with Corporate Port of Blyth offers an onshore dismantling Membership and decommissioning service for the oil, gas and We offer three levels of corporate renewables industries membership which are designed to enhance your Corporate Social regional Responsibility commitments, provide year-round benefits to your business Going for gold and support your staff development, PR and marketing strategies. You Thompsons of Prudhoe has joined the and recycling concrete and bricks in choose the level that you feel reflects red squirrel: mark hamblin/2020vision. port: thompsons of prudhoe. original cottages: Mark Handley. Trust as a gold corporate supporter. the 1970s and 1980s made them ‘green’ your company’s commitment to the and sustainable long before those terms local environment. Established in 1948, the company is one became fashionable. of Northumberland’s largest companies To find out more about becoming still in family ownership - with a national Recent community activities have a corporate member contact our reputation and around 300 employees. included building a ramp to enable care Marketing Officer, Elizabeth Lovatt, home residents to access a new garden via email at elizabeth.lovatt@ It is best-known for demolition, area, and a major donation of materials northwt.org.uk. industrial dismantling, asbestos and labour to help create a new pocket removal, site reclamation, earthmoving, park on Prudhoe’s Front Street. Gold contaminated land remediation and site clearance. Underlying it all, is the company’s Aaron Optometrists strong belief in working as quietly and Northumbrian Water Ltd Although now a large company with unobtrusively as possible - using state- Ringtons many household names as clients, of-the-art plant and equipment, with Tarmac Thompsons retains a distinct family feel trained operators who are aware of Thermofisher Scientific and strong links with the communities the sensitivities such schemes need to Thompsons of Prudhoe in which it operates. address. silver It led the way in the promotion and thompsonsofprudhoe.com use of recycled aggregate in construction Harlow Printing Ltd projects, and its practice of crushing Herding Hill Farm Historic Property Restoration Ltd regional Beth Aiston, Lauren Maltas, Karpet Mills Stacey Turnbull, Hilary Cathey Original Cottages Countryside cottages Potts Printers Ltd and Barbara Pentecost Riverside Leisure Original Cottages Northumberland, part of the Original Cottages Family, is proud to bronze support our work protecting and improving wildlife habitats around the region as a new Bell Ingram silver category corporate supporter. Blyth Harbour Commission Cottages in Northumberland The team lives and works in EcoCabs Northumberland, so preserving the Holidaycottages.co.uk natural landscape on each team member’s Howick Hall Gardens doorsteps is something that is very Northern Experience Wildlife Tours important - not only to them, but for their Northumberland County Council guests who visit the coast and countryside Northumberland Estates each year. Ord House Country Park originalcottages.co.uk/northumberland Poltross Enterprises Propology Boutique Properties Shepherds Retreats The First and Last Brewery Verdant Leisure Wardell Armstrong Roebuck | Winter 2021 21

We bet you didn’t know... y o u!TThhaannkk you Most of the 30 or so species of slug in the UK have a tongue covered in rows and rows of between 1,000 and 12,000 tiny teeth. When they £1,000 wear out, new rows of teeth move forward and replace them. Funding from the Environmental The Catch My Drift Team and Records Information Centre (ERIC) Duncan Hutt (Director of and Northumbrian Water’s Branch Out scheme enabled the Trust to host Conservation) bird surveying the first Benshaw Moor Bioblitz at the regional it underpins everything that we do. beginning of September. It informs our habitat management Nature Counts! strategies, helps us prioritise our species £200 interventions, and allows us to monitor Working in conjunction with a number how successful our work is. Pauline Statt helped pupils from of other UK Wildlife Trusts, and with Kingston Park Primary School learn support from the Environmental So, next time you are out-and-about, more about tawny owls and build Records Information Centre North East please make sure to note down what you two nest boxes to be installed in two (ERIC NE), we are now able to offer an see and submit it to the Trust’s Nature nearby woodland sites this autumn. online recording portal for our staff, Counts online recording portal, which volunteers, and supporters to record can be accessed at record.nwt.org.uk. £70 their wildlife sightings. Deli @ Number 4 donating the cost of The data generated from wildlife carrier bags. deliatnumber4.co.uk recording is incredibly valuable, as £150 regional slug: pixabay.com. surveying: alice mccourt. Jack Shotton and Sophie Yeo’s wedding Cash boost from donation. We wish them a wildlife filled award winning farm future together. We have received £3,613.66 from online sales via award winning Vine House Farm, during the 2020/21 £60 financial year, taking the total received since 2007, to almost £26,000. Matthew Simms, Royal Quays Marina Manager (part of Boat Folk Marinas) The cash boost is an indicator that lockdowns saw following his World Ocean’s Day event. more customers than ever contacting the farm for expert advice and wild garden bird food. £64 Based in Lincolnshire, the farm annually grows 400 Fundraising from ten young people acres of birdseed, including 100 acres of sunflowers. taking part in the summer 2021 For more details visit vinehousefarm.co.uk. National Citizen Service programme. They also donated 10 bug boxes. 22 Roebuck | Winter 2021 Donations, whatever the amount, are always welcome by the Trust and never more so as we continue to recover from the effects of coronavirus. To find out how you can help us visit: nwt.org.uk/support-us

focus on... Focus on... Hauxley nature reserve New look for Hauxley café: sheila sharp Some like it hot! Access all areas Time on your hands? There have been a few changes at The path down to the South Wood We are still looking for volunteers for Hauxely Wildlife Discovery Centre and has been widened and smoothed to the café and as information assistants, the good news is The Lookout Café is improve accessibility around the site for helping to answer all our visitors’ now open again. It’s undergone some wheelchairs, prams and buggies. questions and guide them around the repairs, which we have to expect due to site. It’s fun, sociable and makes you feel the innovative nature of the building, The wood is home to red squirrels, part of the Hauxley community. Why not but the thing you’ll really notice is the birds and barns owls that hunt in the visit nwt.org/volunteer and check out new layout. adjacent fields, so there’s plenty of the opportunities? wildlife to spot. We have a bigger counter to display How you can help even more tasty treats, a speedier The work has been made possible barista coffee machine and even a new thanks to funding from North East ʈʈ Visit the café and shop - and smoothie-maker. Our new Café & Retail Local Enterprise Partnership (via spread the word to friends and Manager, Debbie Lewney, is keen to try the Voluntary, community and social family. some new hot menu items as well as enterprise (VCSE) projects Capital Grants retain those fantastic scones. Programme) and makes Hauxley one of ʈʈ Volunteer - check out all the the most accessible nature reserves in opportunities at So, will it be goat’s cheese paninis or the North East. nwt.org.uk/volunteer. scrambled egg with smoked salmon with your millionaire shortbread? Do Hide de hide ʈʈ Remember an anniversary, come along and see us - our winter café Since vandals struck earlier in the year, celebration, event or a loved one opening hours are 09:00 to 16:00. We are smashing four of the bird-watching with The Giving Tree, where fully Covid-19 compliant so you’ll be able hides, we have been able to make your donation is commemorated to enjoy a safe and peaceful brew with a some positive changes. Thanks to on the tree sculpture and goes view! public generosity, we have replaced towards your favourite wildlife all the broken windows and panels in project. For more information You can still enjoy a takeaway too, all the damaged hides, making them visit nwt.org.uk/givingtree. perfect for dog walkers, cyclists and even stronger than before. We are also picnickers, since we’ll continue to provide planning an additional new hide to be this service from the Café. erected next spring, so that’s something pleasant to look forward to. Roebuck | Winter 2021 23



It is currently estimated there are some 48,250ha of saltmarsh in the United Kingdom — that’s just under 70,000 football pitches! The Reverend Sabine Baring- saltmarsh from above © terry whittaker/2020vision Gould’s melodrama, Mehalah: a Story of the Salt Marshes, is a cautionary tale of estuarine life where the heroine’s fate is bound up in a maze of creeks and back channels. The novel celebrates the marshes, ‘A more desolate region can scarce be conceived, and yet it is not without beauty’. My childhood memories are those of Mahalah’s marshes, which surround Mersea Island, off the Essex coast. The reek of silty ooze never really leaves you, nor do the reflections on engulfing tides or the astonishing concentration of life in so superficially barren a place. Saltmarsh habitats can be found wherever plants are soaked in brine. As an island nation we tend to think of saltmarshes as coastal habitats, but that is not always the case — Worcestershire Wildlife Trust care for a saltmarsh near landlocked Droitwich Spa, where avocet chicks feed amongst the saline turf and pools. For all lovers of wildflowers, wherever you live, there will be a kerb- side near to you where a suite of salty species has followed the spread of council gritters. Roebuck | Winter 2021 25

Shaped by cattle Grazing cattle create Like most of our country’s habitats, the diverse marshes ecosystems of saltmarshes co-evolved with large wild mammals. Aurochs, Saltmarshes are being lost the native wild cattle of Europe, were at a rate of c.100ha a year, last known on our saltmarshes some three and a half thousand years ago, mostly to sea level rise by which time domesticated cows were well established as their successors. The most diverse saltmarshes for birds, plants and invertebrates are those with a high structural diversity, which is created by extensive cattle grazing. To the eye, high structural diversity means a patchy landscape of flowery creek sides with lawns of shorter turf; it’s a tough world to live in, where few things thrive, but many survive. Such tensions are integral to biologically diverse places. Before the advent of industrial farming our saltmarshes were some of the most important pastures in the rural economy. Not only do tidal marshes get a twice-daily dose of silty fertility, but their saltiness also suppresses the disorders of livestock that abound in freshwater wetlands. For at least two thousand years, our ancestors tried to tame this wild abundance by building seawalls, so creating the vast brackish grazing marshes of our southern estuaries. The Gwent and Somerset Levels of the Severn estuary retain some of our richest marshes, including those cared for by the Gwent Wildlife Trust that have recently The reek of silty ooze never really leaves a saltmarsh to the spot, as a nature reserve, you, nor the astonishing concentration of or somewhere that’s been built on, create long term liabilities, not only to maintain life in so superficially barren a place the sea walls but also to cope with the enhanced flood risk that this brings. We can Cattle, Saltmarsh flats, sea thrift © clive chatters been reprieved from a realignment of the be found upstream of Southampton delay responding to these natural processes, M4 motorway. Unfortunately, the natural Docks where the Hampshire and Isle of but each deferral means that when change wealth of our saltmarshes is overlooked Wight Wildlife Trust manage the Lower comes, it is all the greater. by some people who mistakenly regarded Test marshes. Surveys of the saltier parts them as worthless places that are just of these marshes show their restless Essex Wildlife Trust has led the way waiting to be built on. character, moving around the floodplain in realigning seawalls so that there are and migrating upstream as sea levels rise new marshes that meet the needs of The very best marshes are where there in response to climate change. today. We now have confidence that is a gradient from hyper-saline brine the wildlife of saltmarshes is eminently pools, crystalising under the summer An ever-changing landscape capable of moving into fresh sediments sun, to channels with full strength Long experience shows us that when the opportunity is offered. At the seawater that grade upstream to a point manipulating saltmarshes comes at a same time, the revived marsh becomes where the smallest pinch of salt is barely cost. Saltmarshes are naturally dynamic; a nursery ground for the local fishery, a detectable. These complete transitions over generations they shift across the buffer against storm surges and the thick can be found around sea lochs and landscape with the ebb and flow of the tide. organic sediments sequester carbon at sheltered bays in the north-west, but As conservationists we have no status quo a rate that exceeds most tree plantings. they are exceptionally rare in the south to conserve, we have to embrace change Once rejuvenated, healthy saltmarshes where those coastal landscapes have because we cannot stop it. Attempts to fix offer us a way to address the crisis of become fragmented. One such site can climate change. 26 Roebuck | Winter 2021

The restless world of saltmarshes There are 44 different plant communities recognised from British saltmarshes Clive Chatters Wildlife havens The Wildlife Trusts have a particular role oystercatcher © Fergus Gill/2020VISION, profile © catherine chatters has worked for the Hampshire and Isle Saltmarshes, and particularly the abundant to play in safeguarding the diversity and of Wight Wildlife Trust since the 1980s. birdlife they support, inspired the establish- wonder of saltmarshes. For generations, He has written a celebration of Britain’s ment of the nature conservation movement local people have treasured what makes saltmarshes: Saltmarsh, No.5 in the in Britain. It was the opportunity to acquire their patch special — be that the super- British Wildlife Collection, published in the marshes at Cley on the north Norfolk diversity of beetles in a brackish creek or a 2017 by Bloomsbury. coast that led to the foundation of the first picotee strand of thrift along the tideline. Wildlife Trust in 1926. The guaranteed Collectively the Wildlife Trusts have taken seasonal spectacle of migrating birds has responsibility for an astonishing assortment enthused our movement to protect some of habitats that we lump into the clumsy of our largest nature reserves, from the category of saltmarsh. Our nature reserves sheltered Montrose Basin in Angus to the help us to appreciate the importance of local Rockcliffe marshes where Cumbria’s Solway distinctiveness in this superficially desolate coast meets the borderlands of Scotland. but unquestionably beautiful landscape. Flocks from all over the northern Saltmarsh is one of our ‘super hero’ hemisphere head to winter on our habitats when it comes to helping sediment shores, brent geese from Siberia, combat climate change. Find out more oystercatchers from Norway, knot from about this habitat and others that need the Arctic and teal from the Baltic. The protecting and restoring to reduce great journeys taken by estuarine birds carbon emissions and adapt to change: are worthwhile because here on the wet western limits of Europe they find a wildlifetrusts.org/emergency winter refuge, free from the deep freeze of their breeding grounds. Roebuck | Winter 2021 27

Several species of spider thrive in houses House Spider © stephen dalton nature pl I’ve always loved bugs, from the ants in my garden Vicki Hird to the huge rhinocerous beetles that wander our has been working on woodlands. Concerned by their alarming signs of environment, food and farming decline, I’ve tried to share my love and encourage issues for over 25 years. She everyone to do what they can to help save them. explores more insect stories in her new book, Rebugging We can all benefit — humans and bugs alike — by the Planet: The Remarkable rebugging our lives and homes; starting with how we Things that Insects (and Other think and view bugs, to how we eat, garden, what we Invertebrates) Do — And Why We buy and even how we talk about them. Need to Love Them More Wildlife is all around us: it’s not just out in the countryside, in woodlands or other remote wild places. It’s in our towns, our gardens and even our homes! Here I explore — and celebrate — some of the tiniest housemates that have moved in with us, either permanently or just for a short stay (and that you might not even know about)… 28 Roebuck | Winter 2021

rebugging our homes Sharing your space Eight-legged lodgers Images clockwise from top left: Tree bumblebee © kim taylor nature pl; cellar spider © Vaughn Matthews; globular Springtail, centipede © alex hyde nature pl Your home and garden can be wonderful places, and not just Do you shudder with fear when you see a spider? It’s worth for you. Thousands of creatures, visible and hidden share these giving that reaction a rethink, as these wonderfully diverse spaces with you. From the fly catching spiders sheltering in and useful creatures are very unlikely to harm you. You are the corners of your bedroom, to the worms wriggling through a far bigger threat to them and if you can resist the urge your garden soil, the teeny pollinating wasps in your window to hurt them, that’s a great start. Your home and garden box, and the cavity-nesting tree bumblebees tucked into a gap provide cosy spaces for these handy housemates. in your eaves. Not only do these creatures live peacefully and often unnoticed around you, but they also contribute much to Spiders make great neighbours as they munch through your life. They are gardeners that help your flowers flourish, huge volumes each year including ants, mosquitoes, farmers that lend a hand with your home-grown veg, and cockroaches, aphids, flies, and even fleas. They are food too bouncers that get rid of other less welcome house guests. for your garden birds. Welcome the spiders with open arms (even if it is at arm’s length)! Nooks for nature The hidden underworld The cracks and crevices around our houses Your garden soil is home to many more critters than worms. are hugely important for our bugs. They The soil, in which we grow most of our food, is created largely serve as everything from a nesting place by the guts and jaws of worms, mites, springtails, termites, for bees and wasps, to a lurking space for others. One species beetles and many more. If you can imagine the soil as a cooking that may move in is a centipede. Centipedes, whilst harmless to recipe, the bugs basically do all the cutting, grating, mashing, us, use their huge jaws to feast on other bugs you won’t want grinding and, given their role in moving fungus and microbes around like silverfish, carpet beetle larvae and cockroaches. about, they ensure fermentation happens too. They also help They will hide in cracks around your house, in drains and draw down air, water and nutrients; your flowers, grass and damp dark spaces. If you spot a centipede scurrying from its spuds would not grow without the huge array of hard- hiding place, take a close look as they are fascinating to watch. working hidden beasts beneath your feet. Roebuck | Winter 2021 29

Bringing the water vole back to Kielder Water vole 30 Roebuck | Winter 2021

Bringing the water vole back to Kielder Iam sure many of you have heard of can also be viewed on the Trust’s youtube streams. These small streams and ditches water vole: Terry Whittaker/2020vision. water vole release: katy barke. Restoring Ratty, the five-year project channel. are now our release sites of choice - you funded by the National Lottery have to listen to the voles! Heritage Fund. With a hard release, the water voles are For those of you who haven’t, the project encouraged straight into the water and We have a rigorous mink monitoring started in 2016 with the primary purpose with the soft release, the voles are placed in programme in place to protect our voles, of reintroducing water voles back into the a straw filled pen on the edge of a stream at and have over 90 mink monitoring rafts waterways of Kielder and, to date, 2,089 a release site and fed apples and carrots for throughout Kielder Forest and along the water voles have been released, with the several days. This method allows them to Rivers Rede, North Tyne and surrounding help of our much-valued volunteers. acclimatise to their new surroundings and, tributaries. in the case of paired voles, possibly breed. Graham Holyoak and Kelly Hollings run A wooden plate with two holes is then It is vital that we keep mink out the area; the project, working for Northumberland placed over one end of the pen allowing the they are a non-native invasive predator, Wildlife Trust and supported by our voles to come and go as they please whilst and a huge threat to water voles. Water partners: Forestry England and Tyne Rivers preventing most predators getting in. Some voles are at the very bottom of the food Trust. This is our final year operating voles are eager to go and head off into the chain and hence breed very successfully to under the title of Restoring Ratty, but we wilds as soon as the plate is put in place, ensure their numbers remain high. They have been lucky to receive some additional whilst others are more tentative. are able to cope with predation from native funding from a private donor so, the good predators including otters, owls, buzzards, news is, this is not the last you’ll be seeing The criteria used to choose the water herons and foxes, as they can escape or hearing from us! vole reintroduction sites have changed into their burrows using the underwater throughout the project. Prior to the project, entrance, however a female mink is small The idea for reintroduction started in enough to follow the water voles in to 2008 with Forestry Commission (now Water vole Forestry England) surveying the rivers ready for release their burrows and eradicate huge in Kielder Forest, and the now retired populations. We have found that mink Forest Management Director, Graham a feasibility study was conducted looking numbers remain low - our rafts are Gill, suggesting that a reintroduction at habitat suitability from the water vole checked on a fortnightly basis. would be a good fit in an operational handbook. forest. Our ultimate aim is to link up the It is safe to say some of our water voles new Kielder water vole population with A National Lottery bid was submitted hadn’t read the handbook! We initially put the nearest donor population some in 2009 which failed, and it wasn’t until them in streams with lovely earth banks 40 miles away in the North Pennines, 2013 that the Tyne Rivers Trust, Forestry and widths of between 1-3 metres with a on the River East Allen. We are looking Commission and Northumberland mix of grass and herb vegetation. However, at a third phase of the project to Wildlife Trust partnership received in Kielder, the voles seem to thrive in very continue the progress made so far, with funding from The National Lottery small ditches often around 30cm wide. further releases to boost the natural Heritage Fund for an initial two-year As per best practice, we have conducted recolonization of the water voles as well Water Vole Heritage Project. surveys along burns looking at the banks working to improve habitat and remove and the 2 metre zone on each side and mink. This aim of this project was to found little. Most recently, a new three-year show that there was a suitable mink partnership project, aptly titled ‘Naturally free habitat for water voles and that the Feeling despondent on the walk back, Native’, between Durham, Tees Valley support from the local community was further away from the burn, we have and Northumberland Wildlife Trusts fantastic. Upon the successful completion stumbled across feeding signs, a latrine has received funding from The National of this project, with no confirmed mink tucked away in some rushes or a burrow Lottery Heritage Fund to monitor for water found, the partnership applied for further under a tussock, or, better still, the vole and mink in the Rivers Tyne, Wear funding from the National Lottery scampering of a water vole through the and Tees catchments. This project is now Heritage Fund to begin bringing water vegetation over 10 metres away from the underway and the Restoring Ratty team is voles back, the Restoring Ratty project was working closely with the new team. born and the rest, as they say, is history. Thank you for all for your support over the past five years. The project has The donor animals for our captive received support from local businesses breeding programme came from wild and our volunteers have been integral to populations in the North Pennines, every aspect of our work from helping North Yorkshire Moors and the Trossachs with events, mink monitoring, water vole in Scotland in order to create a wide surveying and the releases, so it’s not an genetic pool to breed from. You can exaggeration to say we could not have watch the capture and breeding videos completed this project without them. on Northumberland Wildlife Trust’s youtube channel at youtube.com/ Find out more about the project northwildlifetrust. at: nwt.org.uk/RestoringRatty Project staff and volunteers employ both a hard and soft release method, which Roebuck | Winter 2021 31

MOD... securing our future wildlife! Northumberland Wildlife Trust degradation of peat and intensive farming ancient woodlands covering nearly one is working with 16 partner techniques have reduced meadow flower hundred hectares, as well as heathlands, organisations including the diversity. The Rede catchment is also bogs and wildflower-rich hay meadows. Ministry of Defence (MOD) to important for the survival of some rare There are nineteen sites designated as deliver Revitalising Redesdale Landscape native species such as freshwater pearl SSSIs within the training area. These Partnership, a five-year, £2.8 million mussels, red squirrels and raptors, which habitats support a huge host of species National Lottery Heritage Funded scheme. now depend on ongoing protection or including otters, red squirrels, peregrine interventions for their survival. One falcons, bog orchid and Jacob’s ladder. The Through this collaborative working, the intervention is the Landscape Partnership OTA even has a population of wild goats! Partnership is helping make the area of known as Revitalising Redesdale! Within land managed for wildlife in Redesdale this, the MOD is responsible for the As part of the ‘Life on the Ranges’ bigger, better and better connected. delivery of a project called ‘Life on the project, the MOD are doing an array of Ranges’. habitat work on the area of the OTA within The River Rede catchment in the River Rede catchment to improve water Northumberland stretches from the river’s The OTA is the second largest military quality, restore peatland and enhance source on the English-Scottish border Training Area in the UK and has the upland wildflower meadows, helping to to its confluence with the North Tyne at largest artillery impact area. It covers 23,472 restore connectivity of habitats throughout Redesmouth. This remote, sparsely populated hectares of north-west Northumberland the catchment. landscape, once the lawless land of Border and almost a quarter of Northumberland Reivers, is rich in wildlife and characterised National Park. This vast, undeveloped 80% of UK peatlands are damaged or by peatlands, forestry and wooded valleys. moorland stretches up to the Anglo- deteriorating. The MOD are restoring Some of this picturesque catchment is the Scottish border and straddles the peatland on the OTA by building dams Otterburn Training Area (OTA), owned by the borderland between the Rede and the to block grips (man-made drains) and Ministry of Defence (MOD). Coquet Valleys. removing self-seeded non-native conifer trees. This work helps to restore the Although we now live in peaceful times The OTA is incredibly important for natural hydrology of the peatland and, this is still a fragile landscape, threatened wildlife and conservation, home to both in time, the characteristic peat forming by modern day pressures from land uses nationally and internationally important vegetation, returning degraded peatland and climate change. plants and animals. It has twenty-three to a functioning peat forming, carbon- Activities such as drainage have caused 32 Roebuck | Winter 2021

MOD... securing our future wildlife! sequestering ecosystem. pearl mussels remain. These long-lived partnership includes the Environment Tank: Karen Fisher The restored peatland also provides invertebrates can survive for over 100 Agency, who are investigating the years. These mussels require clean rivers. feasibility of re-introducing freshwater natural flood management benefits, They live buried or partly buried in coarse pearl mussels to watercourses within the holding water for longer in the uplands, sand and fine gravel in oligotrophic, fast- Redesdale catchment, including a burn so reducing the velocity of the water flowing and unpolluted rivers and streams. within the OTA. travelling through the catchment and the They inhale water through their exposed downstream flood risk. The grip blocking siphons to filter out minute organic Finally, Northumberland is one of the helps prevent peat sediment entering particles on which they feed. last strongholds of upland hay meadows. watercourses and therefore improves water The ‘Life on the Ranges’ project aims quality in the River Rede. In early summer (June to July), the male to increase the floral diversity of these freshwater pearl mussels shed sperm into meadows on the OTA. Methods being used Fencing and tree planting have been the water, which is inhaled by the females. include the spreading of green hay and undertaken along banks of the Durtrees In July to September, the female releases the scattering of local seeds. The addition Burn (a tributary of the River Rede), tiny larvae, known as glochidia. These of yellow rattle, a semi-parasite of grasses providing multiple benefits to wildlife. glochidia must find a suitable host fish, helps reduce the growth of the more This work allows natural riparian habitat which could be juvenile Atlantic salmon aggressively growing grasses, allowing to regenerate, which then acts as natural or brown or sea trout, then attach to their herbs a chance to thrive. flood management by slowing the gills. Here they remain until the following movement of water, as well as intercepting spring where they must drop off onto clean Working in partnership with the diffuse pollution that would otherwise gravel and begin the process of maturing, local community, including farmers and enter the watercourse. The fencing which takes 10 to 15 years. Groundwork North East, local meadow excludes livestock, preventing damage wildflower seed is being collected, grown and erosion caused by animals entering The concern is that the remaining and added to meadows as plug plants, the watercourse to drink. This reduces the population in the River Rede comprises returning typical Northumberland amount of sediment being added to the older individuals that are no longer meadow species, including meadow river, improving water quality. reproducing. However, there is a successful cranesbill, globeflower, melancholy thistle, captive breeding programme at Kielder meadowsweet, great burnet and betony, to The River Rede is one of the few rivers Hatchery. The Revitalising Redesdale these important habitats. in England where endangered freshwater Roebuck | Winter 2021 33

Upcycle your garden for wildlife Wildlife gardening needn’t be expensive. There’s nothing more rewarding than upcycling old, broken or unused household items into wildlife habitats for the garden. Use hessian bags to grow bee-friendly plants Many bee-friendly plants grow well in pots and hessian bags make excellent alternatives that you can pack away in winter. Choose drought-tolerant catmint, lavender and Mediterranean herbs like oregano and mint. Pallet herb garden Grow plants in saucepans An upturned pallet can add height Drill holes in old saucepans and other kitchen to your garden. You can paint it a containers to make plant pots. They’re perfect for nice colour and simply wedge plants salad crops like lettuce and radish, plus herbs like in their pots between the slats. chives and parsley. 34 Roebuck | Winter 2021

Upcycling is a fantastic way to reduce the amount illustration by Katy Frost, photo © Sarah Cuttle of waste sent to landfill, while saving you money, too. Who needs to buy expensive plant pots when there are old saucepans, wellington boots or even basins and toilets that can be used instead? Or how about Kate Bradbury making a pond from your old bath or kitchen sink? is passionate about wildlife- There are no limits to what you can do with old, friendly gardening broken and unused items. Use your imagination to and the author of find creative ways to find new uses for forgotten Wildlife Gardening possessions in the loft or shed. What can you use to make a cosy bird box for a blue tit or a refugia for for Everyone and slow worms? Do you have enough old bits of wood Everything in Tin can bee hotels to knock up a hedgehog or bat box? association with Fix an old tin can to a fence or Whatever you choose, make sure you use materials The Wildlife Trusts. wall and pack it with dried, hollow plant stems from 1mm to 12mm safely and effectively. Upcycled gardens look fun, in diameter, to attract a range of solitary bees and wasps. Make sure quirky and unique. They can make fantastic wildlife the can overhangs the stems so they don’t get wet. habitats, too. Get more wildlife gardening tips on our website wildlifetrusts.org/actions A teapot bird house An old teapot can make the perfect nest site for a robin or wren. Hang it with the spout facing down, in a sheltered site away from cats and other predators. Plant tray bird bath Fill an old plant pot tray with water to make a bird bath. Stand it on old bricks to raise it from the ground or leave it low to provide water for hedgehogs. Add a stone to help bees escape if they get stuck. Old sink pond A Belfast sink or old baby bath make attractive mini container ponds, or sink a full-sized bath into the ground for a bigger pond. Pile up logs or stones to make sure wildlife can get in and out safely. Roebuck | Winter 2021 35

Thank you to players of People’s Postcode Lottery for their continued support! For the past 50 years, Northumberland Wildlife Trust has been standing up for wildlife, and since September 2008, players of People’s Postcode Lottery have helped us achieve this. Without them, our work would be a lot harder. Photo: Whitelee Moor by Geoff Dobbins • People’s Postcode Lottery manages lotteries on behalf of 20 Postcode Trusts. People play with their chosen postcodes for a chance to win cash prizes. A minimum of 33% from each subscription goes directly to charities and good causes in Britain and internationally. Players have raised more than £800 million so far. For details of the charities and good causes which are promoting and benefitting from the lottery draws, please visit www. postcodelottery.co.uk/good-causes/draw-calendar • It costs £10 a month to play and winning postcodes are announced every day. The maximum amount a single ticket can win is 10% of the draw proceeds. For details, please visit www.postcodelottery.co.uk/prizes • New players can sign up to pay using direct debit by calling 0808 10 9 8 7 6 5. New players who sign up online at www.postcodelottery.co.uk can pay using direct debit, debit card or PayPal • Postcode Lottery Limited is regulated by the Gambling Commission under licence numbers: 000-000829-N-102511 and 000-000829-R-102513. Registered office: 2nd Floor, 31 Chertsey Street, Guildford, Surrey, England, GU1 4HD • Follow us @PPLComms