Earlier this week, fifteen large drums of vegetable cooking oil, equivalent to 225 litres, were dumped at the bottom of the Northumberlandia car park with some of the drums having been set alight which scorched the surrounding grass.

The site is no stranger to rubbish dumping.  In the past items such as car tyres, shopping trolleys, clothes and even a filing cabinet have been abandoned around the site.

Situated on Blagdon Lane in Cramlington, Northumberlandia is visited by over 10,000 people each year with only Peter Ernst, Northumberland Wildlife Trust Estates Officer and a small team of volunteers to look after it.

Fly tipping has been a problem for the Trust over many years, especially on its Druridge Bay reserves, and appears to be on the rise with people discarding household items rather than paying a collection fee to their local council.

Should anybody see any suspicious behaviour, the wildlife charity is calling on be vigilant and report such activity to the Police via 111.

Peter Ernst, Northumberland Wildlife Trust Estates Officer says:

“We want people of all ages and backgrounds to enjoy, not just Northumberandia, but all our reserves, but we do want them to be given the respect they deserve.

“Such mindless dumping costs heavily the Trust in terms of time and money.  In the case of the vegetable oil being left at Northumberlandia, because it is private land, the Trust will have to pay for it to be taken away.  In all cases of dumping and fly tipping on any of our reserves, it distracts us from our main job of conserving and protecting wildlife around the region.”