Rainton Meadows Nature Reserve

🏃‍♀️ We've assembled our team of runners (there are some familiar faces in there💚) and we would love you to support them in this year's Great North Run.

We would like to say a huge thank you to each and every one of our pack of twelve for selecting Durham Wildlife Trust as their chosen charity for 2024. By fundraising for us, they are helping to protect wild spaces across the North East, securing a future for our natural world.

You can donate to our runners here 👉 https://ajbellgreatnorthrun2024.enthuse.com/durhamwildlifetrust/profile

Durham Wildlife Trust Great North Run 2024 Place | Durham The perfect challenge for 2024. Grab yourself one of our charity Great North Run places and set your sights on that iconic finish line.

Thanks to the funds raised from our supporters and a donation from Esh Group, we have now been able to replace Joe's Jetty 🌟

Members may recall the Jetty was subject to vandalism last year and we are so grateful to our supportive community who rallied around and enabled us to replace the much loved feature.

We still have some finishing touches to add, but it's in! Thank you again to all who donated.

The night skies were remarkable at the weekend. The Northern Lights over Rainton Meadows. Wonderful. 😍
📷 Michael Coates

Jobs | Durham We are always looking for passionate people to join our team. If you have an interest in nature conservation, we would love to hear from you. Browse our current job opportunities.

A fantastic update from our little terns team. 👇😊

**** Little tern update ****😃

Great news from Derek, the Little tern Warden! The birds have been arriving steadily over the last week or so. The highest count so far is 51. There's no nesting yet but plenty of courtship going on 😉

BIG SURPIRSE - a bird had been spotted which was ringed in Crimdon in 2001 making it an incredible 23 years old 😳

DOG WALKERS - please respect the exclusion zone - it's only for a couple of weeks, please let's give these birds all the help we can. Thank you!

Hartlepool Borough Council Durham Wildlife Trust Teesside Coastal Wildlife The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Sign up is open❗❗

Join us this year for and spend every day in June connecting to nature.

What makes this year extra special is that it’s our ten-year anniversary! That’s right, we’ve been helping people go wild for 10 whole years! 💚

We want to thank YOU for making what it is today. We love seeing everything you get up to and it’s incredible to have gone from 15,000 participants in 2015, to 600,000 in 2023! 🎉

Sign up now as a family, individual, school, care home or business and you’ll receive a FREE pack containing lots of goodies to help you go wild. 👉

www.durhamwt.com/30-days-wild-2023

Have you visited us or The Meadows Coffee Shop over Easter?

We would love to hear about your visit, please head to Trip Advisor and give us your feedback 🥰

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g1208081-d3975961-Reviews-Rainton_Meadows_Nature_Reserve_Visitor_Centre-Houghton_le_Spring_Tyne_and_Wear_E.html

Live near Tesco in Hetton-le-Hole, Sacriston, Langley Moor or Seaham? Then you could help us win a grant of up to £1500 to help our vital work for wildlife, by taking part in the in-store customer vote!

🛒 Please support us next time you shop at Tesco – voting runs from April to June. To vote, you will need to make a purchase within store of any value.😊

www.tescoplc.com/strongerstarts

Our visitor centres, coffee shops and gift shops at Rainton Meadows and Low Barns nature reserves are open every day this Easter weekend. Now is a great time to take a stroll through a stunning wild space and enjoy everything that spring wildlife has to offer. 🐸🐝🌸

🚧 Please note: the parking barriers close at 4.30pm.

📷 Michael Williams

We're super excited to let you know that Kittiwake Cam is back in action! The Newcastle-Gateshead quayside is home to the most inland breeding colony of kittiwakes in the world - and you can watch them live on our website.

🎥 www.durhamwt.com/kittiwake-cam

We are currently doing a clear out of our lost property and have come across an airpods case. We imagine this would be a pretty expensive thing to replace, so if you believe you lost an airpods case a little while ago at the reserve please DM us the colour of the protective case or give us a call on 0191 584 3112.

A leap year means we grab ourselves an extra day to look after wonderful wildlife. You can help too. Make today the day you commit to protect nature in the North East. 💚

Become a member and your monthly donation will help secure a future for wild spaces across this glorious region. Your support really does make a difference. 😊

🖱️ durhamwt.com/join

📷 Paul Cleasby

Update - Sunday 11th Feb the waters have receded enough to be drivable this morning and so the barriers have been opened.
Do take care and drive through the middle if visiting today.

Welly welly welly 🌧
Given the weather it may not surprise you to learn that our driveway has once again flooded 😩
Although we will be keeping an eye on water levels, it looks like the road access will be closed tomorrow (Saturday 10th Feb).
The Meadows Coffee Shop are planning to open for any folks accessing the reserve on foot (in wellies!) tomorrow.
We will update this post when the road barrier reopens.

Snowdrop season is upon us! Our top tip for a snowdrop stroll is to visit Hawthorn Dene Nature Reserve, where you can spot these beautiful, nodding, white flowers poking through the woodland floor.

ℹ️ www.durhamwt.com/nature-reserves/hawthorn-dene

On Saturday (tomorrow!) Linda's glass art makes a return to Rainton Meadows ✨️✨️
Hands up if you've missed seeing these gorgeous pieces twinkling outside of our gift shop 🙋🏼‍♀️