WILDLIFE is to be helped through a project to develop a wetland area.

West Boldon Environmental Education Centre has teamed up with Washington Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust to improve some of the most important wetlands in the North-East.

The site, off Newcastle Road, West Boldon, which is managed by the centre, is one of the largest natural wetlands in the borough of South Tyneside, but the area of open water is decreasing every year as reeds encroach on the pond.

Meanwhile, the wildfowl and wetlands trust is establishing new ponds, but they lack plants.

To solve these problems, staff and volunteers from both organisations have been working to transfer reeds from the West Boldon site to the trust, in an attempt to create a new reed bed.

Reed beds provide good nesting sites for birds and homes for a wide variety of insects, but they are becoming rare in Britain as land is often drained for agricultural and development work.