Northumberland Wildlife Trust - Roebuck 149

Roebuck The member magazine for Northumberland Wildlife Trust

help wildlife THIS winter

10 ways you can support your garden wildlife

rockpool treasures

Discover the special wildlife that lives between the tides URBAN WILDLIFE

City slickers From foxes to otters, discover the wildlife making a home in our towns and cities

Winter 2019 | 149

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Welcome

Post Brexit ecology?

Predicting the future is no exact science, yet science reveals that the future of our wildlife looks bleak if we do not move more quickly. We live in an especially uncertain time from an environmental and socioeconomic perspective.

So what will post Brexit ecology look like? Once Brexit is completed, how will we ensure politicians remain focused on the important business of saving declining species, promoting nature’s recovery and addressing climate breakdown when there will likely be limited funding? We at The Wildlife Trusts are lobbying hard for this.

There are promising signs despite everything. Climate change marches occur on the streets where people of all ages are coming together to influence change. Here in the North East, ambitious plans are being hatched to create ‘natural solutions’ to climate and nature emergencies. Plans include large-scale landscape change, which will result in wilder land in larger networks, more trees and new wetlands.

Just how bold should your Wildlife Trust be in pushing for these and other measures to be recognised?

Headway has been made at our recent event, The Big Wild Debate was so successful - thanks to all who joined in the wild conversation. But, which species do you want to see safeguarded? What sort of things would you like us to focus on in the future? These are just a few questions in our supporter survey. Please take part and let us know!

Chief Executive of Northumberland Wildlife Trust Follow me on twitter @Mike_Pratt_NWT

Mike pratt: jack seery, Golden waxcap: Geoff dobbins, gadwall: guy edwa

Northumberland Wildlife Trust Roebuck is the membership magazine for Northumberland Wildlife Trust Email mail@northwt.org.uk Telephone (0191) 284 6884 Address Garden House, St Nicholas Park, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne NE3 3XT. Registered charity number 221819 Registered company number 717813 Website nwt.org.uk facebook.com/northumberlandwt twitter.com/northwildlife instagram.com/northwildlife

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Roebuck | Winter 2019

Get in touch

Northumberland Wildlife Trust is a member of the UK’s largest voluntary organisation concerned with all aspects of wildlife protection - The Wildlife Trusts.

For The Wildlife Trusts Editor Sophie Stafford

Roebuck Magazine Team Editor Fiona Dryden Designer Richard Clark Consultant Editor Sophie Stafford Consultant Designer Tina Smith Hobson Roebuck is printed on

Cover: Fox by Sam Hobson/Naturepl.com

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Contents 4 Your wild winter

The best of the season’s wildlife and where to enjoy it on your local patch

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Wild reserves Why winter is the best time of year to visit these Wildlife Trust reserves

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Wild thoughts Nature writer Melissa Harrison on connecting with winter this year

16 Wild news

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The latest regional and national news from The Wildlife Trusts

23 Focus on: Legacies

Making a lasting impact and the practicalities of tax

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Go wild in the city Nature writer Amy-Jane Beer reveals the exciting wildlife that thrives in our cities

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Life on the rocks This autumn, why not explore the strange and fascinating world of the rockpool

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River Rede Revitalising Redesdale progress and the power of partnership working

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The summer of the painted lady The summer of 2019 was one of the best on record for this beautiful butterfly

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Gardening for wildlife How we can provide safe habitats for overwintering wildlife in our gardens

ardes/2020vision, big wild debate: john millard, love northumberland awards: andrew bryson (NCC)

6 ways to get involved with Northumberland Wildlife Trust Membership

Volunteer

Help us protect the wildlife and countryside you love... and discover the incredible natural world, on your doorstep nwt.org.uk/membership

Could you donate your skills and time to look after wildlife? A wide range of indoor and outdoor tasks need doing nwt.org.uk/volunteer

Donate to an appeal

Campaigning You can play

From purchasing land to protecting species, exciting projects near you need your support. nwt.org.uk/donate

a vital role in raising awareness, and lobbying, on local and national issues. nwt.org.uk/campaigns

Local groups

Join one of our network of local groups and enjoy leaning about wildlife. nwt.org.uk/local-groups

Leave a legacy

If you’ve had a lifetime’s pleasure from nature, help ensure its future by leaving us a legacy in your will. nwt.org.uk/legacy Roebuck | Winter 2019

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Your wild winter The best of the season’s wildlife and where to enjoy it

Migrating purple sandpipers

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Bird s ig ht in g s

If you are visiting our Hauxley reserve, don’t forg et to pass on your bird sightings to our staff or volunteers.

Winter SPECTACLE

Purple sandpipers Purple sandpipers are hardy wading birds that can be found in abundance at high tide all along the rocky Northumberland coastline every Autumn and Winter. They can also be spotted around piers and breakwaters.

They often form flocks with turnstones, searching for food amongst the seaweed. They are tame and approachable.

Adults have short yellow legs and a medium thin dark bill with a yellow base. The body is dark on top with a slight purplish gloss and mainly white underneath. The breast is splattered with grey and the rump is black.

In late summer and autumn, the birds migrate to the UK from Scandinavia, Svalbard, Greenland and some Arctic islands.

Most are found in Orkney, Shetland and along the east coast of Scotland and northern England. They are scarce south of Yorkshire, other than Devon and Cornwall.

purple sandpipers: tim mason

SEE THEM THIS Winter Cresswell Foreshore Boulmer Between Amble and Hauxley

Tim Mason Retired primary school headteacher - his last job was in the Falkland Islands. NWT Hauxley volunteer, bird recorder and avid wildlife photographer.

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Your wild winter

Hygrocybe chlorophana fungus is an autumn and early winter species. The slimy cap is orange yellow with white to pale lemon gills, the stem is the same colour as the cap.

Waxcaps are one of the most important groups of grassland fungi, being used as an indicator of grassland health. They are charismatic, coming in a range of often bright colours. Long established grasslands that have had no input of pesticides or fertilisers often support a good number of the UKs 50 species.

Their life history is a bit of a mystery, however recent research suggests they could be associated with mosses, forming a symbiotic relationship.

SEE them THIS winter Beltingham River Gravels 2km south of Bardon Mill on the road from Beltingham to Willimontswick.

Williamston 1km west of Slaggyford Village.

Annstead Dunes between Beadnell and Seahouses.

Golden waxcap

Urban fox

urban fieldcraft

City foxes

fox: Terry Whittaker/2020vision

Foxes have been present in cities in small numbers for many years with the main colonisation occurring in the inter-war years, when cities rapidly expanded to produce large leafy suburbs of semi-detached housing. This period of expansion produced an ideal habitat for foxes, which they quickly occupied.

Rural red fox diets are around 95% meat, and supplemented with insects, worms and fruit. In urban areas meat only makes up around half of their diets, the other half being from the contents of unsecured bins and dropped litter.

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Research has shown that the fox population of our cities has been stable for many years with no significant increases or decreases in fox numbers. The population is self-regulating according to the availability of habitat and food.

Foxes spend their days in a sheltered, secluded spot and are most likely to be spotted at dawn or dusk when they are more active.

Male foxes are not much larger than cats weighing about 6.5kg (14lb) and standing 35cm (14”) at the shoulder, female foxes are slightly smaller.

golden waxcap: geoff dobbins

Golden Waxcap

SEE THIS

See if you can spot stoats scampering around sporting their white (ermine) winter fur topped off with a black tail.

DO THIS

Take advantage of the dark skies this time of year and go star gazing on one of our beautiful reserves.

stoat: tim mason, Robin: Mark Hamblin/2020vision, blue tit: adam jones, blackbird: amy lewis, goldfinch: Fergus Gill/2020vision

species spotlight

Garden birds

Top tips

Autumn is a time of plenty for many birds, particularly those that live in woodlands, with the abundance of fruits, nuts and seeds that become available at this time of year.

Blue tit One of the most abundant species at any feeding station and are particularly attracted to peanuts.

This group of birds all make the most of the shortening daylight hours and spend their time foraging while they can and building up their condition to see them through the harder days to come.

They forage far and wide and many of them find their way into gardens and the easy pickings of feeding stations which have become such a feature of British gardens over the last 50 years or so.

Although a few people had discovered the joys of feeding birds before that, the rapid expansion of the wildlife conservation movement, which began at that time, encouraged more people to get closer to nature, and an easy way to do that was to feed birds.

Mind you, at least one species, blue tits, had for quite some time been doing that off their own bat! In those days, milk was delivered to your doorstep in glass bottles with either cardboard or eventually foil tops, usually very early in the morning before most people were up and about.

Blue tits discovered that these tops were easy enough to peck their way through to get at the cream which settled at the top and all over the country, it became a question of who got to the milk first. Instead of getting the worm, the early bird in this case got the cream. Blue tits and great tits are still the easiest birds to attract to feeders, particularly

3 species to spot

to peanuts, but they will make the most of any other seeds or nuts that are put out for them.

These little acrobats are very well adapted to clinging on to a swinging peanut holder, but not all birds are as agile as them so a bird table where the food can be spread out for them allows the less nimble to take part in the feast and increase the number of species using this means of helping them through the year.

Of course this is not a one way street, the pleasure that these little birds and so many others bring to anyone who puts food out for them is beyond measure. If you aren’t already doing it, try it, it’s great fun.

SEE THEM THIS Winter Juliet’s Wood 1km north of Slaley Village, Northumberland NE47 0DF. Holystone Burn 1km west of Holystone, Northumberland NE65 7AX .

Arnold Memorial near Craster Village entrance, Northumberland NE66 3TW.

Blackbird One of our iconic garden birds always digging for worms in soft soil or looking for slugs.

Goldfinch These colourful finches love to feed on seed heads and are very fond of sunflower hearts at bird tables.

To find out more please visit our website nwt.org.uk/wildlife-explorer

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HEAR THIS

Take time to listen to leaves crunching under your feet and check out our woodland reserves at nwt.org.uk/nature-reserves.

FORAGE FOR THIS

Search your local green spaces for holly branches and leaves for Christmas garlands and decorations, but don’t forget to leave some for birds as the weather turns colder.

not just for kids

Seven wild activities for winter

hedgehog, garden: tom marshall, leaves: Katrina Martin/2020VISION, walk: simon greener, swallow: Chris Gomersall/2020vision

Strap to introduce the feature in this space Strap to introduce space

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See the auburn in autumn Experience autumn as the leaves begin to change colour.

Why not visit Briarwood Banks, taking a circular walk through the ancient woodland while enjoying the autumnal colours. Look out for red squirrels, roe deer and greatspotted woodpeckers.

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Give hedgehogs a helping hand Provide a space for hedgehogs this winter especially if the weather is warm as some do not feel the need to hibernate and will stay active all through the winter. If this is the case, put down cat or kitten biscuits for them -tinned cat food may freeze, and don’t forget some water.

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Walk your way into the new year Feel refreshed after the festive season by taking a New Year’s walk at our Hauxley nature reserve.

Follow the circular loop around our reserve, visit six wildlife hides to see what you can spot and end with one of Hauxley Wildlife Discovery Centre’s famous and delicious scones.

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Garden for wildlife Leave a part of your garden to run a little bit wild then sit back and watch more garden visitors once spring arrives and sheltering creatures become more active.

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Eyes to the skies As the weather warms towards the end of winter and birds begin to migrate back to the UK, why not visit our Big Waters reserve, the largest body of open water in the region? You could be welcoming cormorants, swallows, house martins, ospreys, goldcrests and many more.

Your wild winter

10 upcoming events

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Create a tiny teapot home for birds in your garden Make sure your tea pot is not too small for birds to nest. If the hole is too big, glue the lid half way over. Clean the teapot thoroughly. Add nesting material. Screw the teapot to a piece of wood to hang, or hang with a piece of string on handle.

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Come dine with me Birds are amongst the most common and popular wild creatures to visit the wildlife garden - especially if we encourage them with regular food.

Surveys have found that bird tables and feeders in gardens help some 30 million wild birds survive and raise their nestlings each year.

Take your pick from this selection of some of the best seasonal activities and events close to you

N at u re craft

you will need Dry ingredients • Bird seed • Cooked rice • Grated cheese • Dried fruit • Breadcrumbs • Chopped nuts Hard cooking fat (lard or suet) A pine cone, coconut shell or old yoghurt pot String make your own bird feeder Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

1 Intro to owls and pellets 7th December 2019 Hauxley, NE65 0JR Learn how to identify owls and find out more about their biology and ecology.

6 Intro to winter birds 18th January 2020 Hauxley, NE65 0JR Improve your identification of winter birds whilst walking around the reserve.

2 Christmas weekend 7th & 8th December 2019 Northumberlandia, NE23 8AU Games, activities, arts and crafts and a Christmas bauble trail.

7 Bird watching basics 1st February 2020 Hauxley, NE65 0JR Aimed at beginners. It starts in the classroom and includes the use of optics.

3 Xmas wreath making 15th December 2019 Hauxley, NE65 0JR Construct and decorate your own luxury Christmas wreath.

8 Self-led photo trail 20th - 23rd February 2020 Northumberlandia, NE23 8AU Match all the photos to the reserve and get a prize for completing the trail.

4 Picture orienteering 21st Dec 2019 - 5th Jan 2020 (excluding Christmas day) Hauxley, NE65 0JR Find all the Christmas pictures to win a prize.

9 A day of mindfulness 23rd February 2020 Hauxley, NE65 0JR The day provides a valuable antidote to day-to-day stresses and busy weekends.

5 Intro to winter birds 4th January 2020 Hauxley, NE65 0JR Improve your identification of winter birds whilst walking around the reserve.

10 What’s next?

27th February 2020 Hauxley, NE65 0JR Find out what’s happening next with the Catch My Drift project.

Discover more on these and all forthcoming events, visit our website nwt.org.uk/events

Try your hand at Christmas wreath making

Add the fat and give it a good mix.

Choose your feeder.

• Plaster all over a pine cone.

• Put it round the inside of a coconut shell.

• Press into a yoghurt pot.

Hang your feeders with string (you may need to make holes and tie the string in before adding the mix).

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A haven in Holywell The quiet village of Holywell, tucked into the far southeastern corner of Northumberland on the border with North Tyneside, contains a secret haven for wildlife and flora.

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Holywell Pond lies just behind the village among arable fields, a remarkably placid and peaceful location that contains a variety of habitats and boasts interesting connections with the area’s history. In the 19th century, the village was almost surrounded by coal mines.

Holywell Pond was acquired by Northumberland Wildlife Trust in the early 1970s and transformed into a 35-acre nature reserve, dominated by a subsidence pond - a legacy of the area’s mining heritage.

Now both native and over-wintering bird species make the pond home, although in recent years the large numbers of whooper swans that earned the reserve a listing as a Site of Special Scientific Interest have become less frequent visitors.

There is still plenty for the avid birdwatcher to see including breeding populations of little grebe, pochard, greylag

goose and sedge warbler while, since the extension of the island, terns have begun breeding on the pond.

The winter visitor may well encounter widgeon, goldeneye, tufted duck, gadwall, teal, pintail, greenshank and green sandpiper. As an overwintering reserve, the pond is of great importance locally. Rarer sightings have included tundra bean goose,

Short-eared owl

our best winter reserves

now you do it

T h a n k y ou

Thank you to all vo lunteer wardens and prac tical conservation volu nteers for their dedication to all our Trust reserves.

interest in birds, those interests have now diversified significantly and they monitor mammals, butterflies, insects and flora.

Their support is invaluable.

Being surrounded by arable fields and with abundant cover, hares are also a common sight. Stands of trees to the north and north-west of the pond provide another habitat. Roe deer are often spotted heading down to drink from the pond at dawn.

Now both native and over-wintering bird species make the pond home peregrine and short-eared owl. Other species observed included tree creeper, snipe, woodcock and a lone female scaup.

Also, listen out for the peculiar grunting of an elusive water rail.

The reserve is often home to flocks of lapwings and, thanks to the nearby farmland, large numbers of geese including flocks of up to 200 greylags are often seen. Pink-footed geese are regular winter visitors and the shallow water is home to a number of the more common mute swans and a large number of mallards.

Although most of the Holywell volunteers started out having a primary

did you know There are two wildlife hides at Holywell Pond. A public hide and a members’ hide (key available for purchase) so you can enjoy taking in the wildlife in comfort.

More recently work to improve the meadow areas around the pond has created a swathe of colour over the summer months. Plant species present in the meadow include bird’s-foot-trefoil, common spotted and northern marsh orchids, meadow buttercup, meadow vetchling and common, tufted and bush vetches.

To ensure the meadow remains healthy, and does not become overrun with dense grasses, FlexiGraze sheep graze the site over winter. Volunteers have helped diversify the meadows by spreading locally native seed, removing invasive plants, and we hope to introduce further rare species into the meadows over the coming years.

The reserve is a haven for wildlife and testament to the dedication of the Trust and its army of volunteers.

Dr Craig Armstong

Visit Holywell Pond Know before you go Location: North of Holywell Village, NE25 0LB How to get there: From the A192 through Holywell village, turn onto Holywell Dene Road and continue to East Grange. Park with consideration for residents in the estate.

Opening times: All day everyday.

Access: A footpath passes between houses at the end of East Grange, follow this along the field edge to the reserve entrance. top WILDLIFE TO SPOT Wetland birds are the main interest, large overwintering flocks of ducks (including gadwall, pochard, wigeon, and goldeneye), geese (pink foot and greylag the most numerous), and wading birds (including lapwing, curlew, and golden plover) regularly use the reserve. Otters are occasional visitors to the pond, whilst tree sparrows can often be seen at the bird feeders.

Tree sparrow

THINGS TO DO Invest in a hide key and survey the pondlife from the comfort of the members’ hide.

Stop off at the feeding stations, maintained by volunteer wardens, to view our smaller feathered friends.

Take a slightly longer route back, walking past the reserve to the waggonway which links Monkseaton with New Hartley, turn right to walk along to Holywell dene and right again at the bridge to head back to Holywell.

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hollywell pond: richard clark, short-eared owl: Danny Green/2020vision, tree sparrow: tim mason

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our best winter reserves

More Northumberland Wildlife Trust nature reserves for a great winter day out 3

Berwick upon Tweed

Harbottle Crags Nature Reserve Why now?

Visit the site and take in beautiful moorland views whilst contemplating the power of glaciers next to the huge Drake Stone.

Alnwick

Kielder Morpeth

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Hexham

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Holywell Pond

Know before you go Location: 1km south-west of Harbottle Village.

Open: All day, everyday.

Wildlife to spot: Teal, goosander, little grebe, snipe, curlew, whinchat, skylark, red grouse, emperor moth, large heath butterfly and the green hairstreak butterfly. Adder, slow worm and common lizard have all been recorded on the site.

Newcastle upon Tyne

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priestclose wood: duncan hutt, harbottle crags: duncan hutt

Priestclose Wood Nature Reserve Why now?

Being in a well populated area, this site is surprisingly undisturbed, the centre of the wood can feel like a remote rural location.

A quiet walk is often rewarded by close encounters with the resident roe deer herd.

Know before you go Location: East of Prudhoe off the B6395.

Approx 1km east of the town centre.

Priestclose Wood

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Open: All day, every day.

Wildlife to spot: Birds including jay, treecreeper, great-spotted woodpecker and redpoll. Various dragonfly and amphibian species, including all three British newts, live in the pond. Keep an eye open for fox and deer wandering around the reserve.

The lowdown The wood consists mainly of oak, birch and rowan but ash, holly, willow and hazel also occur.

Restructuring of the woodland edge has recently been undertaken to create new habitat and reduce the dominance of nonnative species.

Patches of wood anemone and lesser celandine are present in early spring, followed by greater and wood stitchwort, wood sorrel and bluebells. Later, foxgloves provide colour on the woodland floor.

Harbottle Crags The lowdown An area of open moorland that includes the Drake Stone, where nearby rocks have been scratched and polished by the ice sheet of the last ice age. The reserve contains outcrops of sandstones, with north-facing, coarse grit stone crags.

There are a few, small, semi-natural woodland areas confined to the cliffs and steep gullies and the cliffs, screes, gullies and tops of big boulders support dwarf heath vegetation.

There is a milestone quarry in the sandstone and the shapes of part cut stones can be seen over the crags.

Plan your next great day out from all our nature reserves at: nwt.org.uk/nature-reserves

WILD THOUGHTS

Melissa Harrison

illustration: robin mackenzie

Connect with winter this year When I lived in a city, winter didn’t mean much more than a warmer coat for my commute. Now I live in a rural village it seems darker, longer and colder, but also more interesting, with so much to observe and take pleasure in. The slow cycle of the seasons is now a central part of my life.

These days nearly 90 per cent of us live in urban areas where, unless we get outdoors and immerse ourselves in nature, seasonal changes are much less noticeable than in the countryside. But while insulating ourselves from the colder months with 24/7 street lighting and temperature-controlled offices may be convenient, it comes at a cost. Our bodies and minds evolved in nature, alert to its cycles. Studies have shown that part of the brain knows what time of year it is outside and adjusts our immune system and metabolism accordingly, even if the subjects involved are entirely protected from seasonal cues.

It’s only very recently in evolutionary terms that we’ve started spending so much time indoors; just a blink of an aeon, in fact. Perhaps that’s why forging a year-round connection to nature can prove so rewarding, because it’s something our brains have evolved over millennia to do. Tuning in to cyclical events like the slow ripening of apples, the blossoming of ivy flowers providing late food for bees, the shy eruption of mushrooms among the leaf litter or the peeping calls of redwings migrating over cities after dark – these things root us in time as well as place, creating a feeling of

connection that becomes stronger, more a little bit wild rewarding and more enriching with every passing year.

Study the seasons There’s a good case to be made for Phenology is the study spending daily time outdoors in nature, of cyclical natural whatever the weather (within reason!) phenomena. Several and all times of the year. Perhaps it’s a projects record sightings lunchtime stroll that takes in your local from citizen scientists, green space, an evening run around a so you can contribute nature reserve or a new morning route to these valuable, longto the bus stop that takes you across a running studies of nature. nearby common: build it into your routine Visit wildlifetrusts.org/ and you’ll soon feel the benefits. Having citizen-science. a dog is a great motivator; any owner will tell you the benefits to body and mind that come from taking their four-legged friend out every day – even if they may grumble a little on rainy mornings!

Watching even the humblest place change through all four seasons will lead you to know it intimately, a deep, atavistic pleasure that connects us to our past and helps prepare us for an uncertain future, too. The more connected we are to our Melissa environment, the more likely we are Harrison is to protect it – so when the days draw a nature writer in, keep going out; keep looking, keep and novelist, listening, keep loving the natural world. and editor of the anthologies Spring, Summer, Go wild this winter From bugling cranes to Autumn and bubbling brent geese, there’s a world of wild Winter, produced wonders to get you outside this winter. Find your in support of The next adventure at wildlifetrusts.org/winter-wildlife.

Wildlife Trusts.

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6 places to see Winter wildfowl

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s the temperature drops, our wetlands fill with wildfowl escaping the harsher winters of their breeding grounds. It’s a sensational spectacle as swans, geese and ducks descend on our lakes and reservoirs in loud, colourful groups. The air fills with the joyous whistling of wigeons and teals, while groups of elegant grey gadwalls rub shoulders with green-headed mallards, beautiful pintails and bizarre-billed shovelers.

Diving ducks like pochards and tufted ducks are joined by goldeneyes – the males a glorious glowing white as they bob to the surface between feeding dives.

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See the spectacle

for yourself

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1 East Chevington, Northumberland Wildlife Trust Just a short walk from the beach, the wintering ducks on these two lakes are sometimes joined by seagoing species like the lovely long-tailed duck.

Where: Near Red Row, NE61 5BX 2 Foulney Island, Cumbria Wildlife Trust Spot wintering brent geese, or look for common scoters and long-tailed ducks on the sea amongst the large focks of eiders.

Where: Near Barrow in Furness, LA13 0QL 3 Teifi Marshes The Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales One of Wales’ best wetlands, attracting large numbers of wintering ducks including teals, wigeons and mallards.

Where: Cardigan, SA43 2TB 4 Rutland Water Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust Around 30,000 wildfowl can spend the winter at Rutland Water, often including several smews – one of our rarest and most beautiful winter ducks.

Where: Oakham, LE15 8BT 5 Catcott, Somerset Wildlife Trust In winter the flooded fields host wigeons, teals and pintails – a definite contender for the UK’s most elegant duck.

Where: Burtle, TA7 8NQ

Gadwall by Guy Edwardes/2020VISION

6 Blue House Farm, Essex Wildlife Trust Listen to the bubbling calls of thousands of brent geese, which travel from Siberia to feed in the sheltered Crouch Estuary.

Where: North Fambridge, CM3 6GU

Did you see one?

We’d love to know how your wildfowl search went.

Please tweet us your best photos of ducks, geese and swans from your day out @wildlifetrusts

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wild news

6,800

The number of trees staff and volunteers on the Kielderhead Wildwood project planted in 2019. 6,500 downy birch and 300 holly trees. What an achievement!

All the latest regional and national news from The Wildlife Trusts

regional

Big Wild Debate: a success to build upon The Trust’s Big Wild Debate, held at Northumbria University in October was a resounding success.

Panellists for the BBC Question Time style event were Alan Charlton (Extinction Rebellion Durham), Jamie Driscoll (North of Tyne Mayor), Dr Mike Jeffries (Associate Professor in Ecology, Northumbria University), Mike Pratt (Chief Executive, Northumberland Wildlife Trust) and Vicki Mordue (MD, Biodiverse Consulting).

Adrian Pitches (BBC Look North) chaired the debate.

The evening offered over 300 people the opportunity to hear questions put to the panel on a wide range of environmental issues including climate change and global warming, transport, health, wellbeing, Brexit and protection of European species, forestry, planning and development.

The panelists were united on a number of issues especially climate change which led Jamie Driscoll to comment that climate change will damage the economy and that there needs to be a change to the law to enable companies to operate sustainably.

He also said that coal mining in a climate emergency is wholly unjustifiable and that this country needs serious government 16

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policy for a fair transition to clean energy and transport.

Alan Charlton said the country needed an economy that is ethical, ecological, regenerative and reconnected with nature while Mike Pratt strongly believes that as the region played a big part in the industrial revolution, the north east has a duty to start a green revolution.

As expected, the five shared their concerns for wildlife when Brexit finally happens with Mike Pratt saying that whatever happens, Northumberland Wildlife Trust will continue to fight for environmental protection.

Dr Mike Jeffries, also Northumberland Wildlife Trust’s newest trustee, believes there is no reason for a change following Brexit, but serious economic shock will result in cuts to environmental funding.

Transport was a recurring theme throughout the evening with Vicki Mordue sharing her belief that businesses face difficult decisions on sustainability vs. the price of transport and that there needs to be better investment in public transport.

Jamie Driscoll, who is passionate about public transport, believes that he north east’s transportation system is

NWT staff and volunteers with panelist and North of Tyne Mayor Jamie Driscoll (center)

chronically underfunded compared to London and there needs to be investment in infrastructure to make eco-friendly transport appealing to everybody and not just people concerned about the environment.

With all the housebuilding and development in the north east, there were valuable comments from the panel, with Jamie Driscoll calling for a better planning framework and Mike Pratt’s saying that there needs to be a ‘Nature First’ approach, but until then developers are going to continue to cause damage to “irreplaceable environments.”

The evening ended with all panelists agreeing to support one another as they work together to tackle global warming with Vicki Mordue saying that the panelists should have “mutual respect for each other,” Mike Jeffries saying we should “listen to and learn from each other.”

Mike Pratt wrapped-up the whole event by saying: “Tonight we’ve all come together to start a change and we’ll continue to do so. We need to keep active hope alive for the future.”

News

Red squirrel

Legacies Together we’re stronger with legacy support The Trust is delighted to have been named as a beneficiary in the following legacies: Betty Allison Noble - £500 Miss J.M. Noble - £500 Anna Maureen Whatmough - £2,000

The results are in Red Squirrels Northern England (RSNE) has undertaken its eighth annual squirrel monitoring programme.

Once again, over 170 people were involved in this massive citizen science project surveying woodlands and gardens across the north of England between March and May. 86% of surveys were carried out by volunteers.

The surveys involved a mix of trail cameras, feeders in gardens and walks through forests to record squirrels spotted.

In addition, the programme also gathered data from multiple sources:

sightings reported by the public, RSNE staff and records submitted by local squirrel groups.

Results were positive overall, with red squirrels recorded in 43% of sites - a 1% rise on last year’s result. Grey squirrels were found in 46% of sites, down 2% compared to 2018.

The team was able to produce a red squirrel distribution map which pinpoints records of reds in 440 2 x 2km squares within the three month period.

A full copy of the report and a summary can be viewed at rsne.org.uk/ squirrel-monitoring-programme.

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Harriers hatched It’s not just ospreys that keep returning to Northumberland! Marsh harrier chicks hatched again on our East Chevington reserve earlier this year.

The birds first bred on the reserve in 2009 (the first recorded breeding in Northumberland since 1880) and have returned ever since.

Protected as a Schedule 1 species under the 1981 Wildlife & Countryside Act, they have an Amber UK conservation status and are under threat of habitat loss caused by land use changes.

Marsh harrier chick

This selfless generosity is hugely appreciated and, it goes without saying that the money will be used carefully to continue our valuable conservation work.

If you are inspired by the wildlife and landscapes in our region, please consider leaving us a legacy to safeguard them for future generations.

If you would like to find out more about legacies, visit our website nwt.org.uk/legacy or contact Dan Venner, Director of Finance & Business Development at the Trust on (0191) 284 6884.

big wild debate: john millard, red squirrel: Steve Wrightson, marsh harrier chick: elaine more

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Celebrate a special person or event with a leaf on our Hauxley Giving Tree Launched in 2017, the specially designed tree in our Hauxley Wildlife Discovery Centre commemorates a special person or event. The leaves are inscribed with an individual message and remain on the tree as a lasting memento.

In 2019, 15 leaves were placed on the tree to celebrate the lives of nature lovers who had passed away.

One of the leaves is in memory of Roger Broughton who had visited many of our reserves, and, as he grew older visited our Hauxley reserve. This became very special to him, so his widow Marge Craig, felt it was only fitting that a leaf was placed on the Hauxley tree.

To find out more visit nwt.org.uk/ giving-tree.

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uk news UK UPDATE

Shoresearchers: Ulster wildlife

A shore thing

A shoal of citizen scientists across the UK will be learning more about our shorelines than ever before, following the launch of The Wildlife Trusts’ new and improved Shoresearch programme this summer.

This national citizen science survey trains volunteers to monitor the marine life around our coasts, gathering valuable data that will help experts monitor our sea life and better understand the effects of pollution and climate change.

Surveys focus on the intertidal zone (the area of the shore that is covered by water at high tide, but exposed to the air at low tide). They take place on all shores, rocky, sandy and muddy alike, to chart coastal wildlife around the UK. Anyone can become a budding marine biologist by attending a free Shoresearch event hosted by a coastal Wildlife Trust.

Regular volunteers will be trained to identify and record intertidal plants and animals and their habitats, from colourful butterfish hiding in rockpools to weird and wonderful worms buried in the sand and mud.

Previous Shoresearch surveys have used different approaches depending 18

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on which part of the UK they took place in. Now, for the first time, the same methods will be used across the UK, giving us even better data and ensuring that species records can be compared between different regions and changes can be monitored.

The data collected by Shoresearch in the past has already been key to securing many of our Marine Conservation Zones, revealing the special places on our coast that are most in need of protection.

Following the Government’s designation of 41 new Marine Conservation Zones this summer (bringing the total in English waters to 91), the Shoresearch programme will be crucial for monitoring the health of the coastal regions of many of these protected areas.

Shoresearch launched during this year’s National Marine Week, the annual celebration of our seas in which thousands of people enjoyed coastal activities, from rockpool rambles to whale watching.

Find out more Learn more about Shoresearch and discover how you can get involved: wildlifetrusts.org/shoresearch

A Year of Success for our seas n More protection - this May the Government announced the designation of 41 new Marine Conservation Zones, adding to the 50 already designated.

These will form a vital series of underwater habitats which, with the right management, will allow nature to recover. n Better information – The Wildlife Trusts’ new Shoresearch programme launched in July, giving citizen scientists the chance to survey our shores, gathering vital data on the health of our coastal wildlife. n Fantastic support – thousands of people across the UK, Alderney and the Isle of Man joined us in celebrating our seas during National Marine Week.

News

uk highlights

UK UPDATE

sand lizard: Vaughn Matthews, Sundew: Mark Hamblin/2020VISION, barn owl: Andy Rouse/2020VISION

End of an era

Discover how The Wildlife Trusts are working for you across the UK

Stephanie Hilborne OBE has stepped down as Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trusts. Steph has led The Wildlife Trust movement, championing its beliefs and vision, for the last 15 years.

Under Steph's leadership, The Wildlife Trusts have been at the forefront of marine conservation, successfully campaigning for the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, led on landscape-scale conservation and published groundbreaking research on the benefits of nature for health and wellbeing.

Speaking about her departure, Steph said, “I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to be so central to this amazing movement of dedicated people who care so passionately about wildlife and future generations. I wish all my friends in the movement well as they go from strength to strength.”

We wish Steph all the best in her new role as CEO of Women in Sport. wildlifetrusts.org/ceo-steps-down

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1 Moor wildlife

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600 acres of wildlife-rich moorland have been saved from potential development by Northumberland Wildlife Trust, thanks to incredible support for their fundraising appeal.

Benshaw Moor is home to round-leaved sundews and sphagnum mosses, as well as nesting curlews, otters and rare butterflies. The site will now be protected as a nature reserve. nwt.org.uk/news/benshaw

25 years of support This November, The National Lottery celebrates its 25th birthday and we look back on a quarter of a century of support for wildlife and wild places across the UK. Since the first draw in 1994, The National Lottery has raised over £40 billion for good causes – including more than 800 Wildlife Trust projects.

This vital funding has enabled Wildlife Trusts to save thousands of hectares of land,

Saving sand dunes A pioneering project is stepping in to save Europe’s most threatened habitat, sand dunes. Home to rare plants and animals, including fen orchids and sand lizards, the last century has seen them decline dramatically. The ambitious Dynamic Dunescapes project aims to reverse these declines, working with local people to bring life back to our dunes. This partnership project was made possible by £4m funding from The National Lottery. wildlifetrusts.org/saving-sand-dunes

protect rare and vulnerable wildlife and bring people of all generations closer to nature, from helping barn owls in Northern Ireland to restoring wild landscapes in Scotland.

Learn more about the work that The National Lottery has supported at wildlifetrusts.org/25year-lottery.

2 Tern tracking

For the first time ever, chicks from Wales’ only Sandwich tern colony have been given special “flags” to help birdwatchers track their movements.

Each flag, fixed to a ring on the bird’s leg, has a unique code that can be read through a spotting scope, helping us learn more about these seabirds. northwaleswildlifetrust.org.uk/news/ ringing-changes

3 Going batty

The largest ever survey of Alderney’s bat population has revealed the island’s first live brown long-eared bat. For Alderney Wildlife Trust’s ‘Bat Week’, visiting experts trained residents in survey techniques while conducting an island-wide study. They also found five pipistrelle roosts, including a maternity roost, and a natterer’s bat. alderneywildlife.org/bat-week-2019

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L-R: Fiona Stoddart, Chris Myers, Claire Myers, Mary Glindon (MP) and Kath Wade

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The time to act is right now On Wednesday 26 June, I was one of over 12,000 people who headed for London to lobby our MPs about climate change and restoring nature.

I believe what the scientists are telling us - climate change is real, serious, manmade and unless we act decisively over the next 10 years we face runaway global warming which will have disastrous consequences for future generations and the rest of the natural world.

The day of action was organized by the Climate Coalition - a coalition of over 100 different organisations who have come together to campaign for action on climate change.

I travelled to London by bus with my wife and 45 CAFOD supporters from the North East, including 20 pupils from St Mary’s Catholic School in Benton.

Upon reaching London we headed straight to the Inter-Faith event which included contributions from former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Qari Asim MBE, Chair of the Mosques and Imams Advisory Board, Vishvapani Bodhisattva, Buddhist teacher and Radio 4 Thought for the Day contributor, Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg, leader of Masorti Judaism in the UK, and Christine Allen, CAFOD Director.

A unifying theme from all the speakers was the requirement to be good stewards of the environment, to live in harmony 20

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with each other and the natural world.

Our current lifestyle is destroying the natural world and we have no right to do this.

At an afternoon meeting with Mary Glindon - Labour MP for North Tyneside, we raised our concerns that, whilst the government had committed to a net zero target (by 2050), policies and actions did not yet reflect this.

We discussed the need to improve public transport, the phasing out of petrol and diesel cars, ramping up of renewable energy, new building regulations to promote energy efficiency and the retrofit of heat pumps to replace gas boilers in existing homes.

Mary Glindon was generally supportive of our position but did express the view that incentives and subsidies would be required to help poorer families make the transition to low carbon, but did confirm that the Labour Party was committed to decarbonising the economy via its Green Deal policy.

On the environment she agreed that we needed to protect our green spaces, improve air quality, plant more trees and an Environment Act to seek to restore nature.

After the meeting there was just time to attend a mass presided over by the Bishop of Salford, John Arnold who

called for the government to be held to its promise to work towards net zero carbon emissions, and for industry “to clean up its act.” He also paid tribute to the young people who have alerted society to the dangers of environmental crises.

José Batista Gonçalves Afonso, a CAFOD partner and land rights lawyer working for the Pastoral Land Commission in the Brazilian Amazon, spoke of the importance of links with people internationally. The loss of rainforest and the assassinations of 54 people in Pará state means that global solidarity is vital. We can all take steps to help nature and reduce our carbon footprint.

As Mary Robinson former Irish President said: “We are the first generation to understand how serious the climate crisis is and the last generation to be able to do something about it.”

Join us on our campaign for a Wilder Future visit: wildlifetrusts. org/wilder-future Chris Myers conservation volunteer with NWT and, inspired by his grandson, is now active in taking action for environmental issues.

News

Corporate

Membership We offer three levels of corporate membership which are designed to enhance your Corporate Social Responsibility commitments, provide year-round benefits to your business and support your staff development, PR and marketing strategies. You choose the level that you feel reflects your company’s commitment to the local environment.

To find out more about becoming a corporate member contact our Marketing Office on (0191) 284 6884 or via email to elizabeth.lovatt@ northwt.org.uk.

Ringtons brews up a gold membership Ringtons has been blending tea and coffee since 1907 and now, the Newcastle based company has brewed up its support for the Trust with a gold membership.

The Company, which now delivers to over 230,000 customers throughout the UK, continues to develop sustainable development goals and has sought new ways of looking at how it can have a positive effect on the environment.

In more recent years, it has changed the shipping of teas from origin to sail directly to the Port of Tyne, reducing its road miles by 90%. Back in the UK, it has introduced a cycle to work scheme, replaced its Production Hall, Loading

Dock and car park lighting with low power LED lights and established a Rip and Tip station developed to reduce waste.

The factory is supplied with 100% green energy, sends zero waste to landfill, sends excess stock to the company shop, has packaging waste reduction projects and has ongoing packaging improvements, looking to reduce/remove plastic contents in packaging and/or replace with recyclable/biodegradable alternatives.

For all Ringtons latest news, visit ringtons.co.uk or follow on Facebook and Twitter

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Shepherds Retreats join the flock Shepherds Retreats are new Bronze Category corporate members.

The company offers a luxurious ‘back to nature’ experience allowing guests to enjoy the surroundings of Northumberland’s natural beauty in its bespoke crafted huts with glass roofs, built from reclaimed wood and powered by solar energy.

The company won silver in the 2019 Green Tourism Awards and gold in the 2019 North East Rural Business Awards for Tourism.

One Sheperds Retreats’ bespoke crafted huts

Gold Aaron Optometrists Northumbrian Water Ltd Ringtons Tarmac Thermofisher Scientific

silver Harlow Printing Ltd Karpet Mills Potts Printers Ltd Riverside Leisure The First and Last Brewery

bronze Albion Outdoors Bell Ingram Blyth Harbour Commission Cottages in Northumberland Gustharts Holidaycottages.co.uk Howick Hall Gardens Northern Experience Wildlife Tours Northumberland County Council Northumberland Estates Ord House Country Park Poltross Enterprises Shepherds Retreats Verdant Leisure

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sheperds retreats’ hut: shepherds retreats

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We bet you didn’t know...

Earwigs make great mothers, spending months watching over their young without food. They can even sense the presence of dangerous pathogens in the environment and increase their level of care.

Thank Thank you

you!

All the winners

Raffle prize donations Thank you to Oregon 4PC, Intu Metrocentre and Eldon Square, Northumberland Country Zoo, Kirkley Hall Zoo, Azure Garden Centre, Vine House Farm, Howick Hall and Blue Reef Aquarium for their kind donations to our Big Wild Weekend raffle.

Double delight at awards ceremony Two Trust projects triumphed in the Coast or Countryside project category of the LOVE Northumberland Awards this September.

The ‘Restoring Ratty’ water vole reintroduction project scooped the first place and a £250 prize.

The project has enabled people from urban areas to experience some of the

most remote areas of Northumberland and the chance to see water voles at first hand.

The joint runner-up prize of £100 was presented to our ‘Coast Care’ project.

Since the start of 2017, over 1200 volunteers have worked tirelessly over 20,000 hours to conserve our wonderful Northumberland coastline.

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Natural health service A report published in October revealed that prescribing contact with nature for people who have low levels of mental wellbeing is excellent for improving people’s health and wellbeing.

Researchers at Leeds Beckett University analysed the social value of all Wildlife Trusts’ nature conservation projects offering outdoor volunteering opportunities and concluded that people participating in outdoor nature conservation activities felt significantly better, both emotionally and physically, and needed fewer visits to GPs or felt more able to get back into work.

If you would like to enjoy the health benefits of volunteering visit nwt.org.uk/ volunteer.

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Thanks also to In Focus, Alnwick Gardens and again to Vine House for their donations to our HandleBards raffle in August.

£2,067.75 From bird food growing company Vine House Farm, via 2018 catalogue and online sales. Since 2007, the Trust has received 4.5% of any order purchased from the Vine House Farm website vinehousefarm.co.uk the cumulative total to date now stands at £20,167.

Your catalogue is enclosed.

£7,000 Derek Statton and Jan Dunn, two of NWT’s St Nicholas Park volunteers

Members of Furness Building Society who have supported Red Squirrels Northern England (RSNE) through the Society’s Save the Red Squirrel Community Account. furnessbs.co.uk/affinity/products/ wildlife-and-environmentcommunity-accounts/save-the-redsquirrel-community-account.

£800 From the TK Maxx Neighbourly Fund, which was used by the Coast Care, team to support two plastic beach cleans at Spittal and Seahouses and involved 63 people volunteering to help.

love northumberland awards: Andrew bryson (NCC), volunteers: fiona dryden

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WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT

Focus on...

Legacies

A living legacy

hedgehog: amy lesis

A gift in your will to Northumberland Wildlife Trust If your estate is worth more than £325,000 (or £650,000 for married couples and civil partners), it’s likely that some of it will pass to HM Revenue & Customs in inheritance tax (IHT) when you die.

You are allowed to make some gifts without any tax being due after your death. These usually include gifts to your spouse or civil partner, or else you have the option of leaving money to a charity.

Leaving a gift to your favourite charity can make a lasting impact. By supporting them with a bequest, you are not only helping a cause that you care about but you may also be able to reduce the tax you pay on death.

Of course, you don’t have to wait until you die to donate to a charity. Giving money to charity during your lifetime can be an extremely effective way to plan your estate for IHT purposes. During your lifetime, regardless of the amount that you give away, it will be free from IHT and will fall out of your estate for IHT purposes immediately.

In addition to this, during your lifetime if you donate to charity, you can (in most cases) add gift aid to the donation which means that the government tops up the donation you make by 25% Charitable legacies and IHT Charitable gifts left in your will are deducted from the overall value of

your estate before your IHT liability is calculated, enabling you to reduce the tax paid on your estate. You could even wipe it out entirely if you left everything over £325,000 to charity.

However, if you leave at least 10% of your estate, after any exemptions, to charity, this reduces the rate of any IHT due from 40% to 36% - which could save a very significant sum of money.

What are the different types of legacy?

You have a choice when it comes to how you gift money. There are three types of legacies, depending whether you want to leave a physical item or a cash gift: pecuniary, specific, and residuary.

• Pecuniary: basically, a cash amount, so you state in your will that you wish to leave a set amount to a particular charity.

• Specific: when you leave a particular item, such as property or shares, to the charity.

• Residuary: when you leave all or part of what’s left of your estate after any gifts, taxes, expenses and costs have been paid.

What about your own pets?

Without express provision being made in a will, an animal is treated as a mere asset under the law and, as such, forms part of the estate. So while a pet may be

a cherished part of life, after death, they could well be treated as ‘just another possession’.

To avoid this happening, it is crucial to make provision for your pet to ensure that their future care, accommodation and medical treatment is catered for.

What to do Remember to include the details of the charity in your will carefully, to avoid any disputes. This should include its registered charity number and address.

If you want to leave money to a particular branch of a charity, check this is possible; some aren’t entitled to accept legacies. Ask for its tax-exempt reference number.

Finally, you may wish to find out if a charity would be willing to look after your pet following your death and, if so, make a will leaving a sum of money to the charity to cover its costs.

Discover how you can help on our website nwt.org.uk/legacies

Paul Nickalls is Head of Wills, Trusts and Probate at law firm Sintons. To speak to Paul call (0191) 226 3640 or email paul.nickalls@sintons.co.uk.

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Go wild in the city red deer: terry whittaker/2020vision, kingfisher: laurent geslin/Naturepl.com

It’s not only pigeons and people that live in concrete jungles. Nature writer Amy-Jane Beer reveals the exciting variety of wildlife that not only survives but thrives in the built-up habitats of our cities.

Red and fallow deer live in managed herds in some urban parks, but wild deer also roam our suburbs. We need green spaces in our towns and cities to create a Nature Recovery Network that helps wildlife spread and thrive and connects people with nature.

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DISCOVER DISCOVER URBAN URBAN WILDness WILDNESS

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orldwide, about 55% of people live in cities or towns, and that figure is set to rise to 66% by 2050.

The UK is ahead of the curve: as far back as 1950, urbanites accounted for 79% of the populace, and by 2030 it’ll be 92%.

The urban landscape offers humans every convenience – providing us with roosts and dens (though you might call it housing), optimal foraging opportunities (retail, if you must), efficient means of getting about, of interacting socially, of rearing families.

They are an ideal human habitat in many ways, except perhaps for the loss of close contact with nature.

This contact, we are beginning to recognise, is vital.

Happily, it is surprisingly easy to encourage wildlife into urban areas. In fact some species have been exploiting the opportunities of manmade environments for generations, and others are on the rise. Partly this is a result of increasing pressure on habitats in the wider countryside, but it’s also because some towns and cities are making space for nature.

Green oases Many British townscapes have a surprising amount of green space. Gardens, parks, recreation areas, business parks, university campuses and other institutional grounds can all offer excellent habitat for everything from butterflies to bats, woodlice to wood mice, sparrows to swifts. Wild plants thrive too, invited or otherwise – there is no reason for anyone to grow up unfamiliar with daisies, dandelions, nettles, docks, and ivy or with trees such as planes, willows, holly and limes. These all bring their own retinues of invertebrates and birds, so that gardens, parks and even scrub-covered vacant lots and back alleys often literally thrum with life.

You’d be mistaken for thinking urban wildlife was mostly small. Our largest terrestrial mammal, the red deer, lives wild a stone’s throw from central London. A November morning in Richmond Park can feel primordial, with rutting stags bellowing and clashing antlers, while locals jog and commuters hurry past wearing headphones.

The first and most conspicuous species to reclaim urbanised habitats are often commensals – species that thrive best alongside humans, including rats, house mice, house sparrows and feral pigeons. These may not be universally popular creatures, but a little bit of wildlife easily begets more. Just as ‘weeds’ bring invertebrates, which in turn feed bats and birds, mice are food for foxes and owls. Where there is ivy, there is food for bees and

Healthy populations of kingfishers in urban areas such as central London, Manchester, Aylesbury, Coventry, Leeds and Preston show the important role waterways have in greening our towns and cities.

cover for birds, even in winter. Where there are sparrows there may be sparrowhawks. Where there are pigeons, peregrines can thrive – the pair that live in my home city of York have bred among the ornate stone grotesques and finials of the Minster, and their lethal raids provide an appropriately gothic spectacle over the often-unsuspecting heads of shoppers and tourists.

Another cliff-nesting bird that has taken to manmade structures is the kittiwake – a dainty gull with an eponymous ‘kitti-waaaayyk’ call. The colony that has made its home fully eight kilometres inland on Newcastle quayside has become a local cause célèbre, despite the liberal splatter of guano that accumulates on local landmarks such as the Tyne

Where there are sparrows, there may be sparrowhawks. Where there are pigeons, peregrines can thrive Bridge and Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. Unlike larger gulls, kittiwakes are not scavengers.

No chips, kebabs or cigarette butts for them. The Newcastle birds still hunt far out to sea, spending 10 hours or more away from their young and returning to their artificial cliff ledges with crops full of sandeels.

A webcam installed by Durham Wildlife Trust attracts thousands of viewers, who follow the annual drama of nesting, rearing and fledging.

Water brings life Water is a magnet and a corridor for a huge range of urban wildlife. Canals and ornamental ponds invite the solemn, stately presence of grey herons, which may even nest in plain sight if trees of adequate stature are available. None of our cities yet rival Amsterdam, which is home to more than 800 herons, but there is potential.

The electric blue and orange flicker of kingfishers may seem like the stuff of leafy idylls, but improvements in water quality and fish populations mean these glittering birds can now be seen flickering along waterways in cities such as London and Bristol.

A similarly heartening story is that of the otter. In the 1970s and 1980s, these sinuous aquatic carnivores Roebuck | Winter 2019

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As cities have cleaned up their waterways, grey herons have returned. Today, the birds loiter in many London parks, watching passersby for handouts, and form bustling breeding colonies in park trees.

were creatures of near mythic scarcity. Now they can be seen in or close to the centres of Edinburgh, Leeds, Exeter and Winchester.

On a smaller scale, the popularity of lime trees with the urban planners of yesteryear means city streets and parks are among the best places to spot one of our most spectacular insects. The adult lime hawk-moth wears a version of the 1960s carpet I remember from my grandma’s house, while the pencil thick caterpillars are resplendent in lime (naturally) green, with smart diagonal stripes and a lurid blue ‘horn’ at the posterior.

Home for hedgehogs Perhaps the best loved of all urban wildlife is a species that visits our homes without causing any inconvenience and often without apparent fear.

Hedgehogs have undergone a catastrophic decline over recent decades, but some urban populations are bucking the trend, thanks largely to sympathetic homeowners. Gardens make superb hedgehog

The adult lime hawk-moth wears a version of the 1960s carpet I remember from my grandma’s house 26

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habitat provided they are accessible (a 13cm square hole in a fence or wall is sufficient), and contain sufficient cover and invertebrate food. Small slugs, beetles and grubs make up the bulk of the diet, and this further endears the ‘hedgepig’ to gardeners.

Foxes are particularly well suited to city living.

Adaptable and opportunistic, they have taken to denning under sheds and decking; sunning themselves on shed and garage roofs; making use of roads and rail verges, canal paths, cycleways and footpaths to cover distances more efficiently; and foraging among bins and outside takeaways.

Town foxes are often less nocturnal than rural ones, and less wary of people, which gives them the impression of being more abundant, though in truth they only account for about 13% of the total fox population. Nor are they any bigger, or any more or less healthy – rural foxes are just as likely to be afflicted by mange, but less likely to be photographed. Some foxes appear to transition between urban and rural habitats, taking advantage of each in different ways.

In need of a helping hand It’s not all good news. Some formerly abundant urban birds are in trouble. The house sparrow, once considered too common to even be counted on bird surveys, has declined massively as an urban bird, nowhere more so than London, where a 98% crash in population in the 1990s led to questions

DISCOVER URBAN WILDNESS

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1 Inverness On the edge of the Moray Firth, ‘The City in the Highlands’ is great for wildlife. If you’re lucky you could even spot a bottlenose dolphin.

2 Glasgow The city’s rivers hold wild and watery wonders, from dippers and water voles to otters!

3 Belfast In the heart of the city, Bog Meadows reserve attracts abundant birds, from warblers in spring to winter thrushes in autumn.

4 Newcastle A colony of kittiwakes has swapped coastal cliffs for buildings and bridge ledges.

5 Liverpool The Mersey estuary is a haven for wildlife, hosting internationally important numbers of wading birds and wildfowl.

6 Sheffield A green corridor of parks and reserves with woodlands, wetlands and hedgerows carries wildlife through the city.

7 Birmingham This city boasts more

My favourite urban spectacle

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Our experts from around the Wildlife Trusts share their wildlife highlights

5 6 7 8 9

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miles of canal than Venice, which draw dragonflies and damselflies right into the centre.

8 Cardiff This metropolis is home to over half of the UK’s bat species, including the rare lesser horseshoe.

9 Bristol One of the UK’s best cities for urban wildlife, the nearby Avon Gorge is home to peregrine falcons and ravens.

10 London England’s capital is full of wildlife. Stag beetles roam the parks and gardens, deer patrol parklands and herons stalk the Serpentine.

being asked in parliament. You’ll still be lucky to see one in the capital, but at least the decline has gone some way to rehabilitate the image of a species regarded as too numerous in years gone by.

Starlings have declined markedly too, but are still common enough that their cheery, irrepressible whistles and cover versions of sirens, car alarms and text alerts can still be heard on many city streets in spring, while winter flocks boosted by birds from the continent put on displays of such grandeur they literally stop traffic.

Perhaps the best known urban murmuration location in the UK is Brighton, where a mixed flock of around 40,000 gathers to roost on the scaffold of the derelict West Pier, often obliging photographers with a performance against the setting sun.

Waxwings are another winter spectacle sure to draw the wildlife paparazzi. These big, buff, immaculately coiffed rockstar birds arrive from Scandinavia in numbers that vary from year to year, depending on the severity of winter and the availability of food, specifically berries. It’s worth planting a rowan, cotoneaster or a hawthorn in an urban garden, just for the chance of a waxwing irruption alighting on your patch. They don’t usually stick around longer than it takes to strip the fruit and toss them down like peanuts, although fermented fruit sometimes reduces whole flocks to drunken lethargy. Either way, a sighting will give you wildlife bragging rights for at least a year.

Stag beetle “Stag beetles are such an exciting part of summer.

Hearing their whirring, clumsy flight over the garden or balcony on a warm evening is so atmospheric. I always rush out to see their amazing ‘antlers’. I’m lucky to live in south London, which is a hotspot for these otherwise declining giants, so I try to create as much habitat as possible for them.”

Rachel Dowse, London Wildlife Trust

Cheerful ragwort flowers attract butterflies and other insects Ragwort “Ragwort is known by many names, including stinking willie, benweed and St Jameswort. It’s commonly viewed as a weed and a pest, but I love it for the important role it plays in our ecosystem, providing a home and food to at least 77 insect species, 30 of which eat only ragwort and nothing else!”

Qasim McShane, The Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country

Amy-Jane Beer is a North Yorkshirebased biologist and author specialising in natural history and conservation.

She contributes to The Guardian and BBC Wildlife magazine.

Brown hare “There’s wildlife we’re used to seeing in urban settings, such as foxes and squirrels – and then there are some surprises.

One morning, I saw what I first thought was a rabbit near my tram stop in Nottingham. A closer look revealed it to be a brown hare – a creature associated with wide open countryside – wandering unphased up the street!”

Hattie Lavender, Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust

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small skipper on ragwort: Ross Hoddinott/2020VISION, grey heron: Terry Whittaker/2020 VISION, lime hawk-moth: Roger Hatcliffe, author: Lyndon Smith

10 great cities for urban wildlife

DISCOVER URBAN WILDNESS

Life on the rocks This autumn, why not explore the strange and fascinating world of the rockpool, an ever-changing intertidal existence fraught with fragile beauty and drama?

Beadlet anemone Under the water, these jellylike blobs are transformed, with stunning rings of blue beads around the base of their tentacles, full of venomous harpoons ready to attack any competitor that gets too close.

By Coral Smith, Marine Education Officer, Devon Wildlife Trust The variety of life in a rockpool is astounding. When the tide retreats, exposing a patchwork of pools and bare rock, there’s no end to the living treasures you can discover if you take the time to explore.

There are animals that look like plants, such as the writhing, wriggling tendrils of anemones, and plants that look like animals, including the spiked, hedgehog-esque blooms of coralline algae. Even the seaweed is beautiful, from the intricately detailed fronds of fluffy red algae to the intriguingly iridescent wrack, glistening with all the colours of the rainbow as sunlight paints its fronds through the water.

The most fascinating feature of life in a rockpool is the ability of its inhabitants to survive in two completely different worlds. The sea rushes in and plunges them into the washing-machine-like conditions of high tide, a bountiful world for the brave, full of things to eat but also to be eaten by.

Then, just a few hours later, the sea abandons them once more. Left high and dry at low tide, the rockpool residents are exposed to the ravages of sun and wind, with little reprieve from roving predators.

Rockpooling is one of the best ways to discover the wonders of our seas, revealing creatures every bit as exciting as the more mysterious denizens of the deep. It’s a pastime with something for everyone, from the smallest toddler who is amazed at how many different sea snails can cling to one rock, to the seasoned naturalist who is still finding new creatures after hours on the shore. Discovery is a joy for everyone, and it doesn’t end after one trip – every day, there’s more to see and learn.

Just remember, life in our rockpools is fragile, so always follow the Seashore Code. Find out more at wtru.st/seashore-code.

Illustration: beth knight

Become a Shoresearcher To protect the wonderful life in our seas and on our shores, it’s crucial that we monitor these amazing habitats. Shoresearch is the Wildlife Trusts’ national citizen science survey of the intertidal shore. Volunteers are trained to identify and record wildlife on shores across the UK. Shoresearch data has been key to designating many of our Marine Conservation Zones. Find out more at wildlifetrusts.org/shoresearch.

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Common prawn Common prawns peddle through the water, camouflaged by their translucent bodies.

Only their striped legs give them away. When disturbed, they dart off backwards.

Orange-clubbed sea slug This fluffy looking white and orange nudibranch is easily missed as it roams over the undersides of rocks or seaweed fronds. Here it is often found munching on bryozoans (sea-mats).

CLOSER TO NATURE

Dog whelk This sea snail might not look much, but to a limpet it’s a deadly predator. The dog whelk crawls onto other animals’ shells, drills a hole using its tongue, liquifies the insides and sucks it all back up!

Bladderwrack This is one of the most common seaweeds on any seashore. Its fronds contain special algins, a gel-like substance similar to aloe vera, used for purposes as diverse as heart surgery and t-shirt printing.

Limpet Limpets grind their shells down so tightly on the rocks that they leave a scar. The rotating teeth on their rasping tongues are made of the strongest known natural substance on earth.

Common starfish This unmistakable bright orange starfish is one of the rockpool’s most fearsome predators, prizing open clam and mussel shells with its powerful tube feet. It then turns its stomach inside out and devours their insides!

Shore crab This is the crab you’re most likely to find when rockpooling. Look for it hiding under rocks on all kinds of beaches and estuaries. A female can hold up to 100,000 vibrant orange eggs under her tail.

Shanny

Butterfish

If you lift a rock and see something small, dark and fish-like dart out, chances are you’ve seen a shanny.

Closer views reveal its colour-changing ability, remarkable skin pattern and vibrant colour around its eyes.

Often confused with young eels, butterfish can be identified by the black spots running down their yellowy back. You’ll only usually find them down on the lower shore, hiding under rocks or in crevices.

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River Rede:

Managing sediment on River Rede near Otterburn

The Power of Partnership Working Revitalising Redesdale Landscape Partnership is making great progress on the catchment-wide effort to improve the River Rede for wildlife and people.

Northumberland Wildlife Trust is a key delivery partner in the River Project, which is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Environment Agency.

Enthusiastic farmers and land managers are helping the partners to re-establish natural river processes, capture sediment, create wetlands, plant trees and manage grazing. They are also rebuilding the historic bridleway at Smoutel Ford, allowing walkers and riders to enjoy trails between Monkridge Hill and Otterburn for the first time in decades.

The River Rede’s Journey The River Rede rises in the wild, upland bogs of Northumberland Wildlife Trust’s Whitelee National Nature Reserve, at Carter Fell on the English-Scottish border.

The River and its tributaries add to the habitat diversity on the reserve. From here the Rede feeds Catcleugh Reservoir and flows 24 miles past forests and farmland to the River North Tyne, near Redesmouth village. As the streams flow through the surrounding moors, the peat bogs regulate the water quality and flow, helping the river to support salmon, trout and freshwater pearl mussels.

The Need for Action The River’s flow and form has been changed in many ways over the past century. It was straightened, gravel was removed, and more intense forestry and farming practices added soil to the river.

All this has impacted on the river wildlife, in particular the endangered freshwater mussels. The mussels improve the water quality for other species by filtering water through their gills. They can live for 100 years, but sadly, there are few breeding mussels left in the Rede to sustain the population.

Action was clearly needed, so in 2015 a proactive partnership of Northumbrian organisations worked together to develop a catchment-wide initiative. Revitalising Redesdale was launched in 2018 with the River Improvement Project at the heart of the programme.

Reinvigorating River Flows The River crossing at Smoutel Ford was 30

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lost because so much stone and gravel was removed during the mid-1900s. Revitalising Redesdale’s work will reintroduce about 1,400 tonnes of boulder and cobble sized stone to the river bed, to re-create the Ford and associated rocky riffle features. This will reinvigorate the flow in this deeper section and so improve the habitat for fish, river flies and mussels.

This restored section of the Rede had suffered from a lack of gravels upstream to feed the riverbed, so as well as reconnecting the bridleway, this action will benefit river ecology beyond the 300m restored length.

The Smoutel Ford project has been supported by the local landowners and received funding from Northumberland County Council. Already you can see how much the river flow is changing, from slow and flat, to bumpy rapids and small pools.

The main work here will be completed in autumn 2019 with further introductions of gravel downstream planned for 2020, to further improve the form and flow.

Reducing Fine Sediment and Reconnecting Floodplain Wetland During high flow events, the River is severely eroding its banks in some areas, taking chunks of soil with it. At Dunn’s Houses, Otterburn, Revitalising Redesdale slowed the rate of change by cutting a high flow channel into an old meander on the opposite side, in order to take the pressure off the eroding bank. This has helped the River to reconnect with its floodplain and has created a small area of wetland habitat.

The contractors, Haywood Contracting,

Rede near Smoutel Ford was straightened and over-deepened, looking like a canal

Building Smoutel Ford, September 2019

Already you can see how much the river flow is changing

cut the eroding bank to form a shallower angle of slope, set the new fencing further back into the field, and secured seeded coir matting to help hold the soil in place.

These changes will now allow the river to move across the floodplain and keep grazing animals off the bank edges.

Revitalising Redesdale partner, Tyne Rivers Trust, has been working with volunteers to plant riverside trees in this area, to stabilise the banks and create dappled shade over the river. They will be leading more volunteer tree planting tasks next year.

Slowing Stream Flows The lower reaches of the Rede are in generally better condition, but flashy run-

Fencing moved back, shallower bank angle, high flow channel reconnected on opposite bank

Severely eroding river bank adding large amounts of sediment to the river

Brash Bundles at East Woodburn capture sediment from eroding gullies

High flow deflectors push water over the floodplain slowing the flow and reducing sediment in the streams

Log matrix of larch with willow and seeded matting laid to revegetate the riverbank off down gullies from the surrounding moors brings soil to the River, impacting on fish spawning habitat. At Woodburn Hill Farm, East Woodburn, the contractor pushed conifer brash bundles into eroding gullies to reduce the loss of soil to the streams and river. Low flows can trickle through, but the higher flows are slowed while sediment is captured in the brash and bank vegetation. They also built high flow deflectors made of larch logs to push water across the surrounding land, instead of it all flowing down the gullies, and dug ponds to catch sediment.

Livestock Watering In areas where livestock regularly access the river or streams they create muddy

Water trough and new fence on the floodplain at Otterburn areas that wash into the river. Revitalising Redesdale has been putting in fencing and drinking troughs to get the hooves away from the riverbanks, like this example at Old Town Farm near Otterburn.

The contractor team, led by Groundwork North East & Cumbria, have developed the project with strong support from local landowners. The project has been made possible with funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Environment Agency and Northumberland County Council, through an active partnership led

by Northumberland Wildlife Trust and Natural England. Revitalising Redesdale Partnership is very grateful for the continuing support of the landowners and managers and help from the partners.

Working together, the partners are able to achieve a much bigger outcome for the Rede catchment.

For more details, volunteering opportunities and events, contact Maria Hardy, Programme Manager at info@revitalisingredesdale.org.uk, call 02080 261 193 or visit revitalisingredesdale. org.uk

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images: maria hardy/revitalising redesdale

River Rede: The Power of Partnership Working

Painted lady

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red admiral: Guy Edwardes/2020vision

2019… the summer of the Painted Lady

The painted lady is a familiar butterfly to most British gardeners and casual wildlife watchers with its salmon pink coloured wings edged with black.

The summer of 2019 was one of the best on record for this beautiful butterfly. It was seen in large numbers in Northumberland from May right through to the end of September. In most years, it is seen in modest numbers, but occasionally, like this year, it is really common and even gets mentioned in the national press. The years when it is very numerous are rare and only happen about one in every ten.

So why is this?

Most of the 60 or so species of British butterflies are permanently resident here: this means they have to pass the cold months of winter in a state of hibernation.

Most species do this in the caterpillar stage, finding places to lie dormant over the winter. Some species such as peacock and small tortoiseshell overwinter as adults in buildings or holes in trees.

However, two of our common species, the painted lady and the red admiral do not have a hibernating stage in their life cycle and cannot spend the winter here as it is too cold for them to survive. They solve this problem by migrating from countries around the Mediterranean to Britain each year in spring and back again in autumn, in much the same way as migratory birds such as the swallow do.

It is the strength of the spring migrations which determine how numerous the butterfly will be each summer. About once every ten years on average the numbers arriving are estimated in the millions, in other years sometimes very few.

The story of the painted lady’s year starts in the desert fringes of North Africa where the Painted Lady breeds through our winter. It lays its eggs on various species of thistles that flourish thanks to the winter rains of the region.

However, every ten years or so the breeding conditions are just right to enable vast numbers of caterpillars to survive and emerge as adults. Around February each year these newly emerged aainted ladies start their migration northwards to southern Europe where they mate and lay eggs, these hatch into caterpillars, feed on thistles, pupate and emerge as adult butterflies all in the space of about six

weeks. These butterflies make their way north again to reach Britain usually in May. On reaching Britain, they lay eggs on thistles and over a period of about four to six weeks, these complete their life cycle to emerge as adult painted ladies.

This process is repeated throughout the summer to give us completely British born generations of painted ladies by the autumn. Peak numbers for this butterfly are reached from July to September, but in warm autumns can be seen well into October and even November. They are often seen in gardens, even in city centres, attracted to the nectar of flowers and seem particularly fond of buddleia.

Red admiral

In the North East the coastal sand dunes of Northumberland are particularly good places to see painted ladies, but any sunny flower rich place will find them searching for nectar. They will continue to breed until the weather deteriorates in the autumn. It is thought to be a combination of lower night-time temperatures and shorter day length that triggers the start of the return migration. Certainly as winter approaches, the painted lady must up sticks and migrate back south to find the warmer conditions to enable it to survive the winter and start the cycle off again. The entire British population of painted ladies either emigrates or dies each autumn.

We can all do our bit to help butterflies Butterflies in our region are in decline.

With the exception of one or two species, such as the speckled wood, the last 50 years has seen dramatic drops in numbers.

This is due to a number of factors, the main ones being habitat loss, overuse of

herbicides and pesticides, more intensive agriculture, loss of flower meadows and local authorities’ excessive cutting of roadside verges and green spaces. The good news is we can all make a small contribution towards reversing this trend.

Our gardens in Britain cover a greater area of land than all the national nature reserves put together. You can make a huge difference simply by growing appropriate plants to provide butterflies with nectar and potential breeding places.

You don’t need a large garden; planting hanging baskets, tubs and window boxes is just a useful. Ideally, you should have flowers in bloom from spring, to feed the butterflies coming out of hibernation, through until autumn to provide fuel to get them through the winter. Having a range of suitable plants will quickly attract butterflies such as small tortoiseshell, peacock and comma.

Good spring flowering plants such as bugle, cuckooflower and primrose will attract spring species such as orange tip and green-veined white. Summer flowering plants such as lavender, thyme, purple loosestrife, phlox and candytuft, and if you can get them wildflowers like bird’s-foot trefoil, knapweed, ox-eye daisy and scabious will attract small skipper, meadow brown and speckled wood.

Frequently cut lawns may look attractive but they are poor habitats for butterflies and other insects. If you can leave an area of grass to grow long and only cut it at the end of summer, it will benefit a range of insects including butterflies and bees. Better still seed such a left area with wild flowers like yellow rattle, buttercups, clover and trefoils to create a mini-flower meadow. Finally, one of the best plants to grow for butterflies is buddleia, also known as the butterfly bush. In July and August butterflies such as small tortoiseshell, peacock, painted lady and red admiral will arrive in droves to sip nectar from its flowers and they are easy to watch and photograph as they concentrate on probing the flowers for nectar.

Dave Stebbings is a Northumberland Wildlife Trust volunteer and keen amateur entomologist with a special interest in butterflies, moths and dragonflies, which he’s, devoted much of his free time to studying since retiring.

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How you can

help wildlife this winter

Bird box Birds may use these to roost communally on very cold nights. Fill them with dry leaves or similar material to make them warmer.

From log and leaf piles to open compost heaps and towers of terracotta pots by the side of the shed, Kate Bradbury reveals how we can provide safe habitats for overwintering wildlife in our gardens.

Long and tufty grass Caterpillars and other insects hunker down in the thatch.

Some caterpillars may emerge on mild days to eat the grass, so try to leave it uncut until mid-spring.

Log pile Insects hide beneath the logs, while amphibians and small mammals, such as these wood mice, shelter in gaps.

Fill them with autumn leaves to make them more snug.

Compost heap A large, open heap will attract insects including bumblebees and amphibians, such as this smooth newt. It may even lure mammals such as hedgehogs. Try to leave it undisturbed until April.

Pond Frogs (particularly males) overwinter at the bottom of ponds so they can be the first to mate in spring. Float a ball on the surface to stop it freezing over.

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Seedheads Seedheads provide shelter for ladybirds and other insects in winter, and offer a natural source of food for birds, so leave them standing until spring.

illustration: hannah bailey, photo: Sarah Cuttle

gardening for wildlife With the notable exception of birds, most garden wildlife lies dormant over winter, with only a few species, such as hedgehogs, truly hibernating. The rest spend winter in various states of ‘torpor’ – not fully shutting down their bodies as true hibernating animals do. That’s why, on sunny days, you may spot frogs swimming at the bottom of your pond, or bats flying on mild evenings. Even true hibernating animals have a break from all that sleeping – hedgehogs wake up and move nest sites at least once during the cold months.

But on the whole, much of our wildlife isn’t seen from around November to March. Where does it go? Insects might crawl into seedheads or wedge themselves beneath bark for winter. A pile of leaf litter might shelter anything from caterpillars, beetles, centipedes and woodlice to larger species, such as amphibians and mammals. Others hide

deep down in the thatch of long or tufty grass, bury themselves in the soil, or shuffle into the still-warm grass clippings and food waste in the compost heap.

Wildlife is very vulnerable at this time. Disturbing mammals can cause them to waste energy that they can’t easily replenish, while insects can be exposed to fungal infections if they get damp. Providing winter refuges (called hibernacula) will help wildlife overwinter – but not disturbing these habitats once you’ve created them is imperative to their survival.

Spare a thought for birds, too, which have to battle it out in winter, instead of hibernating. Growing berrying plants, feeding them and creating cosy roosts can help them in winter, too.

Kate Bradbury is passionate about wildlife-friendly gardening and the author of Wildlife Gardening for Everyone and Everything in association with The Wildlife Trusts.

Gardens of all sizes are an essential part of a Nature Recovery Network. For more tips visit wildlifetrusts.org/gardening.

Shed Adult butterflies may sneak into your shed or outhouse to overwinter on the walls, where they resemble leaves. Make sure there’s a gap so they can leave in spring.

Bird feeders Birds need as many calories as they can find during the short winter days to give them the energy they need to survive each night. Provide energy-rich suet products, peanuts and sunflower hearts. You can even buy window-mounted feeders if you don’t have a garden.

Garden borders

Soil

Lots of insects like to shelter among fallen plant stems, particularly hollow stems. Try not to cut back or tidy the border until spring – leave it to rot down naturally, instead.

A wide range of species overwinter in the soil, from slow worms to moth pupae and bumblebees.

Try to resist digging the soil until mid-spring when they’ll be awake.

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Thank you to players of People’s Postcode Lottery

helping to conserve wildlife for the past 11 years!

Since September 2008, players of People’s Postcode Lottery have been supporting Northumberland Wildlife Trust as it works tirelessly to protect the region’s wildlife.

Photo: Andrew Parkinson/2020VISION • People’s Postcode Lottery manages multiple society lotteries promoted by different charities and good causes. People play with their chosen postcodes for a chance to win cash prizes. A minimum of 32% from each subscription goes directly to charities and good causes across Great Britain and internationally - players have raised £486 million so far. For details of the charities and good causes which are promoting and benefitting from the lottery draws, please visit https://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 proceed. 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: Titchfield House, 69/85 Tabernacle Street, London, EC2A 4BD • Follow us @PostcodePress