Showing posts with label Durham Wildlife Trust. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Durham Wildlife Trust. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

The Natural History of Upper Teesdale

Durham Wildlife Trust has produced an entirely new edition of The Natural History of Upper Teesdale, perfectly timed to coincide with the blooming of spring gentians, perhaps the dale's most famous wild flower.
















The first edition of this indispensable guide (below), with only 70 pages illustrated with line drawings, appeared in 1965 and has run through four editions. The new fifth edition is almost an entirely new book. Financial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund has enabled the Trust to expand its size and scope, extend it to 198 pages and print in a larger format with an attractive easy to read layout, with high quality colour photographs and illustrations throughout.




































In the new edition (above) nine chapters cover the history of habitation in the dale, its weather and climate, geology, geomorphology and glacial history, its flora and vegetation and the origins of the unique Teesdale assemblage of rare flowers growing alongside more familiar species, its fauna, freshwater life and conservation, all written by outstanding experts in the field. Edited by Trust chair Steve Gater, this is a magnificent achievement by all concerned.


This is a perfect introduction for new visitors to the dale, while those who know it well with find new and fascinating insights. 

The Natural History of Upper Teesdale is available from Durham Wildlife Trust’s Rainton Meadows and Low Barns Visitor Centres, with members able to buy at a specially reduced price of £8 with a £2 postage and packing charge. 

The book can also be purchased by non-members for £10 with a £2 postage and packing charge.

Copies can also be ordered by phone or email from the Trust on mail@durhamwt.co.uk or 0191 584 3112. A £2 post and packing charge applies. 

Teesdale based book design company Mosaic (www.mosaicteesdale.co.uk), who worked on the project, will also have copied available for sale.




Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Making hay while the sun shines on the Durham Coast

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a piece for the Guardian Country Diary and posted some pictures here of the exceptionally species-rich Hawthorn Meadows on the Durham coast. The botanical diversity is the result of a late hay cut, which allows the wild flowers to set seed. 




Today, when we walked through the meadow....



















....  Durham Wildlife Trust's volunteers were haymaking, on a very warm early autumn day. 





















Doing it the traditional way, with wooden rakes and pitchforks, is hard work. The smell of warm, fragrant wild flower hay was wonderful.

A little further up the coast, between Hawthorn Dene and Dawdon, they were haymaking in the National Trust meadows with some labour-saving devices.

























Sunday, April 5, 2009

Coot


A coot, creating ripples amongst the reflected reeds at Durham Wildlife Trust's Low Barns Nature Reserve, near Witton-le-Wear. Double-click on the picture for a larger image.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Sticklebacks


The walkway built out over the new wetland area at Durham Wildlife Trust's Low Barns Reserve at Witton-le-Wear offers excellent opportunities for watching the courtship dances of sticklebacks in spring. A male fish builds a tubular nest in the shallow water from bits of weed, then defends his territory from other males until he's enticed a female to swim through his nest and lay eggs inside. Males guard their nests, fanning water over the eggs, until they hatch. You can watch movies of the whole sequence at

Slime moulds


These spectacular examples of the slime mould Reticularia lycoperdon are currently to be seen on the trunks of an alder, in the Long Alder Wood at Durham Wildlife Trust's Low Barns Nature Reserve at Witton-le-Wear. These are the most spectacular examples of this weird organism that I have ever seen. It begins life as a swarm of microscopic, amoeba-like organisms that slither over tree bark, engulfing bacteria. Eventually they aggregate to form these white, tear drop-like blobs that form a hard white skin and produce millions of powdery spores inside, that are dispersed when the skin ruptures. Each spore germinates to form another amoeba. Each of the white blobs here is about the size of half a tennis ball; I have never seen so many in one place. You can find out more about Low barns Reserve at http://www.durhamwt.co.uk/LowBarnsVisitorCentre.htm

and more about this slime mould at