Brinkburn Nature Reserve is a lovely green space sitting in the heart of Darlington and has an array of different habitats within this area such as a wetland area, woodland and meadow. With increasing developments arising all over the country, green spaces like the one here in Brinkburn are very important as it provides an environment beneficial for wildlife, as well as for the local community.

I recently visited the site to get acquainted and it was great to see so many species already thriving in this large green space. I was even lucky enough to spot a male goosander duck, a diving duck, whom was busy feeding at the pond at the time. Having species like this visiting ponds gives us a good indicator that there are plenty of feeding opportunities, such as under water invertebrates for birds like the goosander to feed upon. I am looking forward to finding out what is lurking beneath the water. Walking around the site I continued to spot numerous different bird species including a very curious robin who was been very nosy at what I was doing whilst observing the woodland. I even spotted a newt in the man-made newt ponds which is excellent as it demonstrates what you can achieve for wildlife by coming up with projects like this! There is a lot of different vegetation on site including some blackberry bushes and spring flowers, all which allow the opportunity for wildlife to forage and is great for pollinators. Whilst also walking around, I stopped to meet some of the locals who were very passionate about their local green space and had some great feedback and ideas about the work already taking place on site. It’s great to see so many friendly people who have a great attitude towards nature and want to help in any way that they can.

Brinkburn Champions is a group of dedicated individuals that regularly participate in tasks to help improve the area, giving it the love and attention it deserves, which is fantastic to see. I will be working alongside them every Thursday/Friday and we are also meeting up on the first Saturday of every month to deliver tasks such as, species surveys, litter picking, planting, and habitat management tasks.

We would like encourage everyone within the local area to get involved, either by coming to say hello, providing us with feedback and ideas, or if you would like join us in our mission by volunteering your time, please visit our volunteer page and sign up to get alerts when we will be out and about.

I look forward to meeting everyone!