The funding will enable significant improvements at St Nicholas Park in Newcastle and Holywell Pond near Holywell Village, enhancing habitats for wildlife and enriching visitor experiences.

At its St Nicholas Park reserve on the outskirts of Newcastle, members of the wildlife charity’s estates team will work alongside its Wednesday Gardening Group volunteers to reinstate/repair two ponds which keep drying out. The work will boost populations of urban amphibians such as toads, smooth newts, and the thousands of frogs that head to the ponds every spring to mate.

Originally a kitchen garden for hospital patients, the reserve now serves as a green haven for both wildlife and the surrounding community.

In addition to the pond work, the funding will enable practical conservation volunteers to improve the wildlife garden areas, carry out meadow management on the site, coppice the trees each winter to encourage dense re-growth of trees for breeding birds such as willow warbler, chiff chaff, black caps, blackbirds, robins and wrens and upgrade the site’s well-worn footpaths.

Volunteers will also maintain and monitor bird box activity a task which will also involve ringing baby birds next spring.

Holywell Pond reserve in Northumberland will be the second reserve to benefit from the cash boost.

Just north of Holywell Village, the reserve is home to breeding species of birds including little grebe, pochard, greylag geese and sedge warblers. In winter, widgeon, goldeneye, and tufted ducks are joined by greenshanks and green sandpipers - all of which attract thousands of visitors each year.

On this site, the funding will enable the wildlife charity’s estates officers and volunteers to conduct woodland management to support the bird populations and meadow management to support the bees, butterflies and wasps that rely on the meadow’s flowers for much needed nectar.

The public wildlife watching hide that attracts lots of antisocial behaviour will be removed and replaced with a robust screen.

Exmoor ponies, part of the Flexigraze Conservation Scheme will also graze the meadows over the winter with their feet churning up the muddy ground aiding seed dispersal.

There will also be another attempt, in partnership with the British Hardy Orchid Society and National Trust, to establish the green winged orchid which disappeared from the north east several decades ago.

Finally, a Northumbrian hedge laying expert will be brought onto the site to assess the hedges and then train a team of volunteers in hedge laying as part of an attempt to keep the tradition alive. 

Geoff Dobbins, Northumberland Wildlife Trust Estates Manager says:

“This funding boost from BT is amazing and so appreciated. It will enable us to conduct practical conservation work on two busy sites which we may have had to shelve due to lack of funds. Also, it is allowing us to train our volunteers in hedge laying to ensure that a native countryside skill isn’t lost.”

Patrick-Sutherland-Harris, BT Account Director for the Ministry of Justice says:

“At BT, social value is at the heart of our purpose, driving impactful initiatives that address the needs of diverse communities across the UK. 

"The Social Value team at BT have a focus on sustainability, community, sponsorship, charity, and the environment. We’re delighted to be able to fund work at both of these popular sites, which will support nature, the local environment and benefit people too.”