The much welcome funding will enable Northumberland Wildlife Trust to build and install 10 new bird boxes on Tony’s Patch, a reserve 2km north west of Haydon Bridge, and monitor activity around them over the coming years.

Tony’s Patch is home to ash and oak trees with smaller trees such as willow and hazel offering plenty of places to attach them and is home to populations of greater-spotted woodpeckers, blue tits, great tits, chaffinches, robins and breeding tawny owls, all of whom will be chirping for joy in their new homes very shortly.

However, one of the many downsides of the current lockdown is that it will be a race against the clock for estates officer Peter Ernst and Duncan Hoyle, who usually have support from their estates volunteers, to have them in place before spring so the birds can breed in them this year.

Speaking about the donation, Geoff Dobbins, Senior Estates Officer at Northumberland Wildlife Trust said: “The cash boost from Haydon Bridge Parish Council is wonderful and it couldn’t have come at a better time as we were trying to work out how to fund the installation of a number of bird boxes around the area.

“Tony’s Patch is well worth a visit once lockdown is over and, if you look carefully, you may catch a glimpse of a bird or two using the new nest boxes which will be guaranteed to raise a smile.”

The reserve is a favourite with members of the public, especially in spring when parts of the woodland floor become a carpet of bluebells. Anybody visiting the site is asked to treat it with respect and to take all litter home with them.