Bird lovers are being offered the chance to enjoy the dawn chorus at a North-East nature reserve.

Durham Wildlife Trust is running an event at its Low Barns reserve, near Witton le Wear, on Sunday May 4, starting at 4.30am. The cost is £5 for members and £7.50 non members, which includes breakfast.

People must book in advance for the event - on 0191 5843112 - which is part of a national initiative.

Between Saturday (April 26) and May 4, thousands of nature lovers will taking part in similar events around the country as part of the BBC Breathing Places initiative.

BBC Breathing Places - with The Wildlife Trusts, RSPB, National Trust, Forestry Commission, BTCV, the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust and other partner organisations - is co-ordinating more than 250 dawn chorus events in city parks and nature reserves around the UK .

Led by local experts, these events have an early start (usually between 4am-6am) but offer listeners a truly memorable experience as the dawn chorus builds from the first cheep to a crescendo of birdsong.

Jin Cokill, Director of the Durham trust, said: “It may mean getting out of bird early but listening to the dawn chorus is one of the great joys of the wildlife calendar.”

Simon King, BBC Springwatch presenter and vice-president of The Wildlife Trusts, says: “Whoever you are, wherever you live, if you do just one thing this year make it this: set your alarm for 4.30am, stand outside or make the short journey to the nearest park or leafy cemetery, and wait for the curtain to rise on the most awe-inspiring symphony on earth.”

An environmentally important piece of County Durham heathland, which is home to a variety of rare plants and animals, is being made easier for local people to enjoy thanks to regional developer The Banks Group.  

Hedleyhope Fell, between Tow Law and Cornsay Colliery, is a rare example of what ecologists call ‘mid-altitude heathland'

For eco-towns to be truly ‘ecological' and provide good examples of housing design, they should not destroy important natural sites, say The Wildlife Trusts.

The Wildlife Trusts are particularly concerned that one of the 15 sites revealed today includes a Wildlife Trust nature reserve and will damage a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).  Weston Otmoor in Oxfordshire could see 10-15,000 new homes built on the edge of the Green Belt south of Bicester and will affect Wendleby Meads and Mansmoor grassland SSSI.

Eco-towns need to be sensitively sited and designed - with nature at their heart - to deal with the challenge of climate change and if the public are to have confidence in them.

For more information click HERE
For a downloadable copy of the consulation document click HERE

The Wildlife Trusts welcome today's publication of a draft Marine Bill as an important step towards restoring the health of the UK 's seas.

Stephanie Hilborne , The Wildlife Trusts' chief executive, said: “ With this draft Bill, we've finally laid the foundations for the protection of our seas. The Wildlife Trusts have campaigned for many years for new laws to bring marine conservation into the 21 st century and we are delighted that the Government has today published a draft Bill.  The draft contains numerous measures we have lobbied for, including Marine Conservation Zones and new controls on inshore fisheries.

The draft Marine Bill is online at http://www.defra.gov.uk/marine/index.htm

Defra has also published:
1. A summary of planned and current conservation measures, 'Protecting our marine environment under the Marine Bill' http://www.defra.gov.uk/marine/index.htm
2. A set of summary sheets ''What does this mean for me?': http://www.defra.gov.uk/marine/legislation/sectors/index.htm
3. The latest Marine Bill Newsletter  http://www.defra.gov.uk/marine/legislation/key-docs.htm

For the full press release click HERE

The final report is available for download HERE. The Wildlife Trusts national position, supported by Durham Wildlife Trust, is outlined below.
The Wildlife Trusts accept bTB in cattle is a significant problem for farming in the UK and that urgent action is required to combat the disease. The Trusts particularly recognise the important role the livestock industry can play in the environmentally sensitive management of the countryside, and the serious disruption and anxiety caused to farmers experiencing a herd breakdown.
The Wildlife Trusts are pleased the EFRA committee agrees that the following measures must be rigorously enforced to control bTB:

• More frequent cattle testing, with more frequent and targeted combined use of the tuberculin skin test and the gamma interferon test
• The evaluation of post-movement cattle testing
• Greater communication with farmers on the benefits of bio-security measures
• The deployment of badger and cattle vaccines, when they become available
• Continued work on the epidemiology of the disease.

However, The Wildlife Trusts believe that a cull would be impractical due to the conditions suggested by the report.

For more details click HERE.

A century after the publication of The Wind in the Willows, and six years after a change in the law was first recommended, ‘Ratty' is finally to receive full protection from the law, under new proposals announced today by Defra.

This important announcement has been a long time coming. The recommendation for full protection was made as part of the Quinquennial Review of the Wildlife and Countryside Act in 2002. However, it has taken six years for the recommendation to reach the Minister for the Environment and to be accepted by Defra.

It will now be against the law to intentionally kill a water vole or to intentionally, or recklessly, damage or disturb the places they use for shelter or protection, meaning that their future is a safer one.

For more details click HERE.
For the DEFRA press release click HERE.

Prospective members can now join Durham Wildlife Trust online on the web site. A new secure form allows you to join either by making a single payment for one year's membership or monthly direct debit payments using a PayPal account. To join online click HERE.

Wildlife Trust workers are celebrating after surveys confirmed that one of their nature reserves is home to all five of the UK 's native owls.

Rainton Meadows, the expanse of wetland and grassland which surrounds Durham Wildlife Trust's headquarters at Houghton-le-Spring, is home to Tawny and Barn Owls as well as Little Owls, and Long-eared and Short-Eared Owls.

For more details click HERE.

Concern has been expressed about the arrival in the North-East of a deer that is known to destroy bluebell woodlands.

Durham Wildlife Trust is worried about recent sightings of muntjac, a small Oriental deer from China that was first introduced into southern England during the early 20^th Century.

The first introduction was at Woburn Park in Bedfordshire and since then the animals have increasingly found their way into the wild.

For more details click HERE.

The Wildlife Trusts are pleased to announce a new partnership with the conservation award-winning Vine House Farm.

It is recognised by The Wildlife Trusts that farmers hold a key to the well-being of our countryside and in turn, the health of our wildlife. In addition to farmers, gardeners manage a vast area of the UK too; gardens are estimated to cover about 270,000 hectares - more than the area of all the National Nature Reserves in the UK . Developing this partnership with Vine House Farm brings wildlife-friendly farming and gardening together.

For more details click HERE.

Aggregate Industries has chosen to team up with The Wildlife Trusts which is a lead partner in the community workstream of the BBC's Breathing Places campaign. The Wildlife Trusts has been chosen by the BBC as one of the national conservation charities to provide the hands-on support in getting more people involved in and aware of the UK's extraordinary wildlife and natural resources.

For more details click HERE.

The Trust have received a legacy in the form of gift of a parcel of land in Derwentside District from the estate of the late Mr.J.Gibson.

The new reserve comprises approx. 3.5 ha of lowland dry/wet heath and woodland and is located approximately 3 miles to the south-west of Lanchester.

This is a County Wildlife Site with a species rich mosaic of heath, marsh/fen and wet woodland. It has been unmanaged for many years and is under threat from succession to scrub/woodland.

For more details click HERE.

The Wildlife Trusts welcome the Government's increasing recognition of the urgency for the country to adapt to climate change - through the Climate Change Bill, published today. And urge that this must go hand in hand with our efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

For more details click HERE.

Sir David King's report on bovine TB in cattle and badgers sweeps away 10 years of science, say The Wildlife Trusts.

The Wildlife Trusts believe the report produced by Sir David King does not provide any new data to inform the scientific debate on badgers and bovine TB. It ignores issues such as the cost effectiveness or practicality of any action and does not provide a balanced view of the issue. It also fails to consider the efficacy of cattle controls which are important mechanisms for controlling the spread of the disease.

For more details click HERE.

The trust's web site was inaccessible for some time on Tuesday 30th and Wednesday 31st October. This was caused because we were in the process of moving the domain from one supplier to another and there were unforseen technical problems. We had only expected a loss of service for about an hour but in reality the problem lasted nearly 24 hours. We hope that this did not cause too much inconvenience to users of our site.

An e-petition to the prime minister to ban snares has been raised by Chris Gale, who says 'These crude devices inflict terrible cruelty and suffering on any animals unlucky enough to be trapped in them. They are totally indiscriminate and often catch protected animals, such as badgers and otters, as well as domestic pets and livestock. Snares are thin wire garrottes commonly used by gamekeepers to catch the foxes that are naturally drawn to the artificially elevated numbers of game birds in shooting woods. Snares are also set to catch rabbits. Snares are barbaric and the UK should join the many other European countries that have banned their manufacture and use.' To sign the petition click here http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Snares/