Wardens recruited for town nature reserves

Peter Dixon, John Griffiths and Terry Beer have all been recruited in recent weeks.

English Nature and Darlington Borough Council have designated four new areas in Darlington as local nature reserves. They are Maidendale Nature and Fishing Reserve, in the Firthmoor area, with fishing facilities due to open next year; Rockwell, along the banks of the River Skerne in the north- east of the town, noted for the diversity of wetland habitats and its rarities including Pink Water-Speedwell plants and Broad Bodied Chaser dragonflies, both of which are rare in the county and not found elsewhere in Darlington; and Geneva Wood and Brankin Moor in the south-east of Darlington, which provide one of Darlington's few woodlands and a premier dragonfly site, respectively.

The sites, all in the Darlington urban area and accessible to local people, have been developed by Darlington council's countryside team and volunteer groups.

Volunteer wardens attend to each site, carrying out regular monitoring, checking on wildlife and informing the council of anti-social behaviour.

In addition to developing LNRs in Darlington, the council countryside team and volunteers are establishing two community woodlands, Skerningham and South Burdon and working on the development of nature sites across the borough including a new site at West Park.

David Lyonette, Darlington council's cabinet member for economic regeneration, said: "The work carried out by local volunteers and the council's countryside team in developing nature sites for local people is certainly paying off."