Cows move to Hetton-le-Hole's Elemore Park to aid biodiversity
She said the trust, along with Sunderland City Council, had been trying to figure out the best way to manage the habitat of the park which was converted from a former golf course at an old colliery in 2022.Cows are adept at grazing tough, faster growing vegetation, said Ms Gladwin."You want to graze down the standing vegetation to allow the slower growing, more sensitive plants to grow," she said."Also, with their hooves and the way they kind of tear up the grass, they actually create bare patches in the soil... so that seeds in the soil can germinate."
This leads to a mix in the vegetation which would otherwise not occur as grasslands can easily become dominated by one particular species, she said. Such variety can support a wider range of wildlife.The public will still be able to walk through the part of the park where the cows live, but Ms Gladwin advised people to keep their dogs on leads.Depending on the outcome of the trial, more cows could be introduced to the park in future.
Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
5 hours ago
- BBC News
New Gateshead deacon working supermarket and church aisles
A supermarket worker is dividing her job in the checkout and church aisles after becoming an ordained deacon with the Church of Robinson, from Ryton, Gateshead, said her 23 year experience at Asda has allowed her to build up a passion for helping well as serving customers in her community champion role at the Gateshead store, the 59-year-old can now also conduct church services, baptisms and funerals. "I see myself as somebody that walks alongside people, so whether that's in their happiest or saddest moments - I just want to be there for them," she said. "It's a joy to be able to ease people's burdens and if I can help anybody in any small way then that's what God has called me to do," she Robinson is one of eleven new deacons to be ordained at Durham Cathedral, by the Right Reverend Sarah Clark, Acting Bishop of is serving her curacy at St Cuthbert's Blaydon, St Patrick's High Spen and St Barnabas Rowland's Gill - and in a year she will be able to marry people and distribute communions across the Tyne area. Ms Clark said watching Mrs Robinson "grow in faith and confidence has been lovely"."Donna's long service with Asda reflects her strength of character and qualities of loyalty, dedication and love of people," she her time at Asda, Mrs Robinson said she had met people from all walks of life and helped hundreds of charities through her role as community turn, she said colleagues and customers had supported her ambition to become a deacon. "People who come in and buy raffle tickets from me have congratulated me, so it is really nice to be recognised," she said. Mrs Robinson said she knew she wanted to become a deacon after "feeling Gods presence" amongst the silence while swimming in a labyrinth during a family holiday in Scotland. "It was a perfect day, blue skies, and I just sat in the labyrinth and felt the silence, there was lots going on in the background but there was no distraction for me and that's when I knew."She left school at 16 and admitted because she was not academic, the four years of study at Lindisfarne College of Theology was "difficult" and a "rollercoaster of emotions".During the process she was diagnosed with dyslexia which she said "made sense" because of previous events that had happened in her life. "I'm just a working class girl from the north east of England and one piece of advice I would give any student at college now is if I can do it, anybody can do it," she said. Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
BBC News
14 hours ago
- BBC News
Water buffalo boost wildlife at Hertfordshire nature reserve
A herd of water buffalo introduced to a wetland two years ago is having a positive effect on wildlife, a charity has said. Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust said the animals, based in Wivenhoe in Essex, had been returned to Thorley Wash Nature Reserve for a third year to graze ditches, waterlogged marshy areas and wet officer Kathryn Dunnett said biodiversity had improved, with vegetation turning greener and more wildflowers 13-hectare site (32 acres), to the south of Bishop's Stortford, is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest. The species is "hardier and more tolerant of waterlogged conditions than domestic cattle and better suited to the conditions at Thorley Wash", the charity said. "They clear the dense and scrubbier vegetation to improve that habitat, which it is hoped will help species such as endangered water voles, successfully reintroduced to Thorley Wash in 2015."If they were not employed, heavy machinery would have to be brought in to keep the ditches clear, it added. Ms Dunnett said: "Year on year, we've expanded the area that the water buffalo have grazed at Thorley Wash and we are really pleased with the effect they are having on the habitat."We are seeing the vegetation take on a much greener appearance – they are clearing the dead matter and the composition of the vegetation looks to be changing, with a bit less sedge and more grasses." Senior reserves officer Dan Townsend said volunteers had been instrumental in enabling the water buffalo to graze, by checking them and flagging up any concerns they have."We really couldn't do this without the support we get from our fantastic volunteers", he added. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Free breakfast clubs in Sunderland and Maryport 'boost attendance'
Free breakfast clubs are boosting attendance and improving behaviour in schools, headteachers have clubs were introduced earlier this year by the government at some primary schools in disadvantaged communities to ensure children have a healthy breakfast before Road Primary School in Sunderland is part of the first phase of the national roll-out of the pilot scheme. Headteacher Cathy Westgate said it helped children have a "lovely, calm start to the day" . She said children from bigger families, who had previously been late as it had been "really difficult" for parents to drop students off, had been "arriving first thing"."It's really helping them once they start school…it's just brilliant."Up to 70 pupils at the school have been having a free breakfast every morning during term time. The children said they enjoyed having extra time to eat breakfast and socialise with friends, and it made them feel better in parents, the free breakfast clubs offer help to juggle childcare and work at no extra Fortunate Airhunuoge, who works night shifts, said it helped her save time and money. It has not been just primary school pupils seeing the benefit of a good 40% of students on free meals, Netherhall School in Maryport, a secondary school, has been running its own free breakfast club for the past three years thanks to support from an anonymous David Tromans said the breakfast club had started with the aim of improving attendance, but was also "addressing some of the wider issues in terms of poverty associated with the area"."Our attendance has shot through the roof because the students come in early," deputy headteacher Mark Bailey added."They get a great start to the day and they take it forward with them for the rest of the day." The government's Early Education Minister Stephen Morgan said it was "brilliant" to see the impact free breakfast clubs were added over two million meals had already been served, benefiting up to 180,000 pupils. Follow BBC North East on X and Facebook and BBC Cumbria on X and Facebook and both on Nextdoor and Instagram.
