Gateshead Green Connections

Gateshead Green Connections will involve communities across Gateshead in caring for their local natural environment. The project will deliver nature recovery from the Beamish Burn to the Tyne, and create better links between nature reserves, making them more accessible and encouraging greater use. Durham Wildlife Trust Conservation Project Officer, Mandy Bell, is managing the project. “We’ll deliver a regular programme of practical conservation tasks on each of the nature reserves, and the Trust is recruiting volunteers to support the work,” said Mandy. “The volunteers who join us will receive training and mentoring to build capacity, confidence and independence. This is a great opportunity for people to get outside, look after, and learn more about their local green spaces and connect with nature. Who wouldn’t want to get involved?!” Find out about volunteering for Green Connections: durhamwt.com/gateshead-green-connections

New Education Projects Officer

John Hayton has taken up the role of Education Projects Officer for Durham Wildlife Trust. John, who was previously an Education Leader, will co-ordinate the education team and support the Trust’s efforts to get one in four people, whatever their age, actively engaged in nature’s recovery. To achieve this, the team will bring school groups onto nature reserves to learn about the importance of nature to all our lives. Durham Wildlife Trust will also go out to schools to teach students and teachers how to bring wildlife into their school grounds. All while linking to the relevant curriculum!

John Hayton

Generosity that Lasts Forever

A gift in your will can make a huge difference to wildlife. It could contribute to the purchase of a new nature reserve to ensure it is protected for the future; it could help with the ongoing management of the places you love, so that wildlife can flourish; or it could support environmental education, so that more children can discover the natural world.

Just 1% of the value of your estate can make a huge difference to our work. Every gift is valuable. Having a will is so important to ensure that your loved ones are taken care of and all your wishes are known to your family. If you don’t have an up-to-date will and would like further information about how to go about writing one, please visit www.durhamwt.com/legacy

50@50

by Jim Cokill

In summer 2020 - which seems like a very long time ago - Durham Wildlife Trust launched its 50@50 campaign. At that time the Trust had 42 nature reserves, and the ambitious plan was to increase that number to 50 by the end of the charity’s 50th anniversary year in July 2022.

Durham Wildlife Trust is very pleased to announce that the target has been reached – we did it! The Trust has been able to take on management of an additional 270 hectares of land for nature across 11 sites. More than £2.7 million has been raised to acquire the land, restore habitats, and fund future management. It was a true team effort. Durham Wildlife Trust staff and volunteers played their part, but it would have been an impossible task without support from members, donors, our local authority partners and funders – the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Landfill Communities Fund, Durham County Council, Gateshead Council and Bannister Trust. The new sites support a wide range of habitats and species, and are spread across our patch. There’s information on the most recently acquired sites over the following pages, and updated information available online at www.durhamwt.com/nature-reserves. Although agreements have been secured to bring our total number of sites to 50, two of the deals are yet to complete. Those final two sites are particularly special and they will feature in detail in the next edition of Wildlife Durham. Durham Wildlife Trust increasing its landholding is an important contribution to the work of the Wildlife Trusts nationally. Bring Nature Back – The Wildlife Trusts’ Strategy 2030 – sets out to deliver nature’s recovery across the UK, with at least 30% of land and seas actively managed for nature’s recovery. The 50@50 campaign has been our starting point to deliver that objective, but it is only a start. Work is underway on developing our local Strategy 2030 and the current estimate is that 18% of the Durham Wildlife Trust area could be described as being actively managed for wildlife. Reaching the 30% target needs another 30,000 hectares. It’s a massive undertaking and one that the Trust is never going to accomplish by acting alone. As with all Wildlife Trusts across the country, our Trust will play its part in nature’s recovery by acting as an advocate and leading by example. By working with our partners and other landowners, we’ll seek to influence how their land is managed, and an important part of that is expanding our own estate to demonstrate how nature recovery can be delivered on the ground. It’s an ongoing effort, but, as you’ll see over the following pages, it’s a worthwhile task and the success of 50@50 is just a starting point for even bigger ambitions.

Find out more about our nature reserves: durhamwt.com/visit