Keeping an eye on the bog

In 2021, Durham Wildlife Trust started work with Trusts and other partners in Cumbria, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Northumberland to restore a huge swathe of peat bog across the north of England. The project, funded by players of People’s Postcode Lottery, aims to put more than 4,000 hectares of upland peatland under restoration management, with estimated annual savings in carbon emissions of at least 8,590 tonnes of carbon dioxide per hectare, per year. Julia Quiñonez was employed by Durham Wildlife Trust as the ‘Eyes on the Bog Officer’ as part of this project. Working with partners across Cumbria, Durham and Northumberland to install long-term peat monitoring stations that will allow the capture of data on upland peatland sites, informing habitat restoration and capturing the benefits of this important work. Julia is continuing her work with volunteer citizen scientists, who are central to this simple monitoring technique on peatland sites.

If you are interested in finding out more, please get in touch: mail@durhamwt.co.uk

Naturally Native

By Kelly Hollings

Naturally Native Project Manager

Naturally Native is a partnership project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, comprising Durham Wildlife Trust, Tees Valley Wildlife Trust, and Northumberland Wildlife Trust, all working together to re-establish our much-loved water voles.

The project team would like to say a huge thankyou to its volunteers who help with a variety of tasks, and without whom the project would not be achieving the same success.

In recent months, the focus for the team has been on engagement and the roll out of the Young Rangers offer, a bespoke traineeship available to young people between the ages of 14-18. Another very important deliverable of our project is to work with partners in areas where water voles exist but need a helping hand due to habitat degradation, or in areas where water voles are close by and habitat improvement works will help their populations expand.

Please do get in touch for more information about any aspect of our project. naturallynative@durhamwt.co.uk.