As I write this the purchase of the Rothbury Estate by NWT and WTs is looking very likely to happen after 3 years of solid work and 2 years of mega fundraising to get the £30m necessary to make it happen together. Phew, what a relief, but also what an opportunity for Northumberland to be seen to be leading the way on nature recovery and conservation, alongside farming and access, at an unprecedented scale.
This will see the return of a wilder more nature abundant landscape linked to Hepple, Wallington and Cragside and in a wider 40-mile corridor, from coast to Kielder. Massive things are also happening to secure land for wildlife at both ends of this at Druridge and Kielderhead. It all makes for a new Northumberland nature network.
Ultimately, we and partners, see this as part of a ‘coast to coast approach, from the Solway to the North Sea, with that second part of the corridor running along the Hadrian’s Wall and Tyne River between Cumbria and Northumberland, the biggest opportunity for wildlife restoration and connection possible in England.
I say all that to underline that it’s not just about Rothbury, exciting as that is! It is also about the Tyne Valley and making it too as good as possible for wildlife and as we know its pretty good in parts already.
I never stop being impressed with the wild things and habitats I encounter between Tynemouth and Allendale, along the Tyne. Theres a lot going on here.
We for example are working with National Trust at Allen Heads and at our reserve at Briarwood banks to improve woodland wildlife opportunities, which we think (if only we could find them!) has, among other things, the last local population of dormouse to be found in north of the Tyne in England. At Whittle Dene woods and reservoirs we are working to increase biodiversity with Northumbrian Water and the Woodland Trust and communities along a small but beautiful burn feeding into the Tyne. Our partnership with Cumbria Wildlife Trust and everyone concerned with Hadrian’s Wall, what we call the Wilder Hadrian’s Wall Partnership, is identifying potential sites for nature enhancement throughout.
So, it is all happening, but yes probably needs to be happening even quicker and even more to get nature and climate resilience to where it should be!
But aside from all the big strategic ideas and partnerships, how does it feel, and how might it seem, as nature is restored and we begin to see more wildlife everywhere?
It’s when I’m in the field, watching wildlife, that the pure importance of all this hits home personally. Standing by a tributary of the Tyne, standing watching, ‘taking in the good’, as Mindfulness people say, of all around me, I see the potential for an even richer daily interaction with Nature for us. Much of it is there already we just need to help it branch out and be more abundant. Other things will return and multiply as habitats are restored and nature friendly framing starts to dominate the landscape, over decades.
Thus, I see the first salmon and sea trout rise from a pool near a bridge near Haltwhistle, showing age old natural systems still work; the last few swallows nip across for the flying insects on this claggy early Autumn day; a roe deer noses at a few mushrooms; a goosander takes off, turning golden in the light reflecting off the water and a dipper takes off from the rapids further downstream. But in my mind’s eye, I perceive even more to marvel at. I fancy I spy a beaver building a small dam in aside stream creating a pool and habitat for fish and amphibians, perhaps signs of a pine marten, that has taken up residence and many more red squirrels as there are now no grey ones in the area, even water vole burrows on the riverbank, like when I was a child. Then, as I look high into the clouds, I think I detect the shadow of a golden eagle, the ultimate icon of a future Nature, fully connected and restored, across the Tyne Valley, Rothbury and way beyond.