Restoring the Durham Carrs Fundraising Appeal

We need to raise £20,000 by the end of this year

Taking action for nature and climate by restoring Durham’s Ancient Carrs

Marsh Harrier by Andrew Parkinson 2020VISION

Nature is under threat across the world, and our region is no exception. We already live in one of the most nature-depleted places on the planet, and the United Nations is warning that nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history – what some are calling the 6th mass extinction event in the Earth’s history. But there is still hope if we act now. Although we are facing an environmental emergency, with inextricably linked crises for nature and climate, by working to solve one, we can help to address the other. As part of Durham Wildlife Trust’s 50@50 campaign, and the Trust’s work on the Discover Brightwater Landscape partnership, we are doing just that. Taking action and helping nature to deliver the solution. The Great North Fen

Durham Wildlife Trust has a vision for a Great North Fen. Restored landscapes where nature can recover and wetland habitats will sequester and store carbon. The Trust has already begun to deliver that vision, with restoration already underway of the Durham Carrs. The Durham Carrs were a relic from the last ice age – a complex of wetlands fed by the River Skerne as it descended from the limestone escarpment in the east of County Durham and flowed south. The term ‘carr’ means an area of bog or fen in which scrub, especially willow, has become established, so in recent centuries the landscape of the Durham Carrs was not open water, but a mosaic of habitats that would have been home to a wide range of species. Imagine a landscape of wet grassland, fens, ponds and wet woodland that supported large numbers of waders, wildfowl, and other species we associate with wetlands, from plants and invertebrates to mammals like the otter and water vole. Historically, birds such as the crane and marsh harrier, now lost as breeding species in our region, may also have been present. With your support we can bring nature back. Those habitats, and the species they supported, are now almost entirely gone. The land was drained for agriculture in the nineteenth century and new drainage schemes continued being delivered into the 1980s. Parts of the Carrs are still being pumped dry today, including areas of lowland peat that are releasing carbon into the atmosphere. The Discover Brightwater Landscape Partnership began the first phase of the restoration of the Carrs, securing land at Bishop’s Fen to the south of Bishop Middleham. Additional land has recently been acquired at Ricknall Carrs, near Newton Aycliffe. We are now seeking your support to complete the first phase of the Trust’s vision for the Great North Fen by completing the initial restoration of the Durham Carrs.

Durham Wildlife Trust has been given the opportunity to purchase an additional area of land that will complete the initial work. The Trust has already raised £1,175,000, through the work of Discover Brightwater, to acquire land and deliver habitat restoration. We need a further £200,000 to buy additional land and complete the first phase of the Great North Fen.

Durham Wildlife Trust can turn every £1 you can give into £10 to deliver nature’s recovery

The Trust has already acquired land in the Carrs thanks to support from the Veolia Environment Trust. To access funding from the Landfill Communities Fund requires raising 10% of the cost upfront. To be able to submit a grant application for £200,000 to buy additional land, the Trust first needs to raise £20,000 – we need your support to do that.

Will you be part of our vision?

With your help, nature can recover, and that recovery is part of a Nature Based Solution to the climate crisis. We are facing an environmental emergency – it’s time to act. Please donate today.

£20 £50 £250

White Egret by Derek Moore

£500 £1K

£20 could buy 30m2

for fenland restoration so that wetland plants and insects can return to the Carrs.

£50 could buy 70m2

for scrapes that support breeding lapwing and curlew.

£250 could buy 350m2

to recreate wet carr woodland to sequester and store carbon.

£500 could buy 700m2

where wetlands can help slow the flow and protect downstream areas from flooding.

£1000 could buy 1400m2

to support the return of species like the marsh harrier.

DONATE TODAY

You can donate online at www.durhamwt.com/restoring-durham-carrs or post a cheque addressed to Durham Wildlife Trust to the following address: Restoring the Durham Carrs Fundraising Appeal, Rainton Meadows, Chilton Moor, Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne & Wear, DH4 6PU.

Please Note

Your contribution may be collected by Durham Wildlife Trust to be paid to a Landfill Operator in order to release Landfill Communities Fund monies for the Great North Fen and Durham Carrs projects undertaken by Durham Wildlife Trust. This contribution may not be eligible for Gift Aid.

All funds donated will be used to support the acquisition of more land and habitat restoration across the Durham Carrs.