BIRDwatchers can get closer to nature thanks to a donation from the County Durham Environmental Trust.

The trust, which funds projects with money from the landfill tax, has given £50,000 for a new footpath at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, in Washington.

The trail will run into Hawthorn Wood where visitors will be able to watch a wide variety of species in their natural habitat.

Work has just started on the new track, which will provide improved access for wheelchairs and pushchairs into the wood where a special feeding area has been built to attract more unusual species.

The trust money will also help pay for improvements to the main path around the centre, which has become worn by more than 70,000 visitors each year.

Centre manager Chris Francis said: "We have tried to make Hawthorn Wood as natural as possible so that feathered and human visitors can exist together quite happily.

"As a result, a number of colourful species, including bullfinches, great spotted woodpeckers and sparrowhawks, have been regular guests at our feeding tables."

Trust chairman John Wearmouth said: "This centre at Washington is important, not just locally, but as part of a national network of sites crucial to the survival of birds and other species dependent on water."