A CHEMICAL company has created a nature reserve on its site to encourage wildlife.

Terra Nitrogen, in Billingham, Teesside, invited schoolchildren to the opening of the reserve, which includes a pond and wildlife meadow.

Youngsters from High Clarence Primary School came along to open the project by releasing frogs and tadpoles into the pond.

Jackie Reed, from Terra, said: "This project is just around the east gate. We have moved the main site entrance from Belasis Avenue to Haverton Hill Road so we could have better facilities for visitor reception. It also reduced the traffic.

"As part of that, we needed to do some landscaping, so we invited the Industry and Nature Conservation Association (Inca) to give us some ideas about what sort of things we could do that were environmentally-friendly."

Moving the gate has also meant building a new visitor centre, where vistors are briefed on essential safety information.

Inca, which is also based in Billingham, suggested the pond, wildflower meadow and planters containing various flowers.

The company took up the suggestions and brought in Traditional Conservation Limited to do the work.

Performing the opening ceremony, Carol Devlin, of Terra, said: "You look around and you see lots of steel and it doesn't look a nice place, but you would be surprised at how many birds and insects we have living here now. I have seen rabbits, foxes and maybe a hawk. We want to make the place look prettier and provide a better habitat so we can extend the types of birds, insects and animals that are living on the site with us."

As well as introducing frogs to the pond, native plants have been put in to attract birds and insects to the site as it matures.

A small area has also been planted with meadow flowers, which will spread into a larger area of grassland surrounding the gate.

Published: 10/05/2005