One of our most high profile partnerships is the Kielder Osprey Project. NWT’s role is of course to deliver Osprey Watch, with our fantastic group of highly knowledgeable and dedicated volunteers, some of whom have been involved since the very start of the project. However, there would be no ospreys to watch without both Forestry England and Northumbrian Water.

Forestry England look after the nest sites and camera infrastructure, with a lot of behind the scenes work happening to make sure that nest locations are safe within the highly complex working forest, and that the cameras are able to record and broadcast live footage form the nests for monitoring and engagement purposes.

Northumbrian Water keep Kielder Water stocked with fish that provide a handy food source for the birds as they return, find their mates, rear their young and then leave once more on migration. Northumbrian Water also provide the cabin at Tower Knowe Visitor Centre that we use as our base. Other partners like Wild Intrigue run the osprey watching cruises, and donate back a portion of the profits to help the project continue into the future. By all taking responsibility for an aspect of the Kielder Osprey Project, we are collectively able to protect these amazing birds and share their stories with the general public.

Recent other partnership projects with Forestry England have included Restoring Ratty and Kielderhead Wildwood, with both of these projects being funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Although the lottery funding has ended for both projects, Forestry England have taken on the responsibility for ensuring that the work continues. In the case of Kielderhead Wildwood, the whole area has been incorporated into their ‘Wild Kielder’ project, an area of 6000ha where they will allow nature to lead, restoring functioning and resilient ecosystems. A huge win for nature in Northumberland!

One of our longest standing partnerships is with Northumbrian Water, where we manage a number of their sites for nature. You can read more about the sort of work we do in Dan Chapman’s previous blog post here.

The return of pine martens to Northumberland has galvanized various conservation organisations into working together to understand how they are re-establishing themselves in their former home ranges. We are working with Vincent Wildlife Trust, Forestry England, Natural England, The National Trust, individual landowners and others to co-ordinate our conservation efforts to be as effective as possible. We have volunteers out and about currently looking at a range of sites in the county to see if we can establish where pine martens are present, which will tie into surveys being done by others. Another great example of a species finding its way back here naturally.

Although just a small snapshot into some of our partnership work, we know that by working together in a joined up fashion, we can achieve more for nature in Northumberland.