Benshaw Moor. Image by: Duncan Hutt.
Moor cash needed for charity’s land appeal
Northumberland Wildlife Trust has launched a funding appeal in its final push to secure the 600-acre Benshaw Moor in Redesdale as a new nature reserve.
The Trust already has already raised an “unprecedented” £568,000 in its bid to buy the Northumberland site, but has only until 29 April to find another £135,000 to complete the purchase and make Benshaw Moor its 63rd nature reserve.
The site, near Elsdon, includes nationally important features such as blanket bog, heather heathland, grassland and limestone springs - a complex and varied mosaic of habitats that supports mammals, birds, reptiles and insects.
Duncan Hutt, Northumberland Wildlife Trust’s Head of Living Landscapes and Conservation says: “This is an amazing piece of land which has become available for purchase and would make a wonderful nature reserve.
“It will probably be our most exciting and important acquisition in the last 15 years, but donations are essential as we are in a race against time to secure this corner of Northumberland for wildlife and posterity.
“The site is all about big skies and magnificent vistas, a feeling you are in the presence of powerful forces and wildness. There are burns, spring and even a limestone-stepped waterfall.”
The abundance of plants and animals on the site is stunning. It is home to otters, dragonflies, butterflies and adders. Curlews, skylark and meadow pipit nest and visitors to the site can catch a glimpse of short-eared owls as they hunt over the moorland. It is also a paradise for botanists.
Plants found on the moor include bogbean, butterwort, limestone-bedstraw, grass of Parnassus, and bog species such as cranberry, sphagnum mosses and round-leaved sundew.
Part of the funding so far has come from charitable trusts, businesses and donations, including a “significant” private gift and a bequest by the late George Swan, emeritus professor of organic chemistry at Newcastle University, who wrote The Flora and Northumberland, a comprehensive record of plant species in the county.
The bequest was specified for use in buying a site of botanical importance.
To help Northumberland Wildlife Trust’s Benshaw Moor Appeal, visit www.nwt.org.uk/benshaw-moor-appeal or call (0191) 284 6884.