Over the weekend, vandals attempted to break into one of the wildlife watching hides on its Big Waters reserve next to Brunswick Village.

The beading and aluminium sheet was ripped off one of the shutters, the shutter frame damaged and the gutter pulled off the front of the hide.

Once the perpetrators realised they couldn’t prise open the shutter, they turned their hand to trying to prise open the door and drilling the lock. 

All the damage will need to be repaired which will prove costly for the conservation charity.

Geoff Dobbins, Northumberland Wildlife Trust Estates Manager says:

“This is absolutely mindless vandalism especially as there is nothing in the hide to steal! It is particularly alarming because whoever did this, went to the site prepared with tools, including a drill and crow bar to break in.

“At this time of year, the estates staff and volunteers are busy with grass cutting, hay making and  practical conservation tasks on many of our reserves, so to have to stop this to repair the damage is taking us away from our work which is very much weather dependant.” 

The wildlife charity is no stranger to vandalism and break ins. In June 2010, the visitor centre on its Hauxley reserve at Druridge Bay was destroyed in an arson attack and needed to be rebuilt, and in March 2021, four of its wildlife-watching hides on the reserves had their windows broken and benches broken. The biggest hide, the Tern Hide, had its walls kicked in, benches ripped out and every window smashed. The repair bill ran into £1,000s.

In the November of the same year (2021), burglars attempted to break into the wildlife charity’s Gosforth headquarters - using an axe to break through an exterior wall to gain access into the building, before ransacking the inside and stealing valuable items of equipment.