Helping Seaham get closer to nature

Grant funding from believe housing is helping a County Durham community get in touch with their local wildlife.

Co-founded by Alison Hough and Desmond Consitt in 2015, voluntary organisation Greenscapes’ Getting Closer to Nature project has created a two-acre wildlife area in Seaham to encourage young people to learn about and protect the natural world around them.

The site, at Greendrive Welfare Park, now hosts groups for children and young people. Activities during the session include bulb and tree planting, bird and hedgehog box building and recording what mammals are in the site using homemade ink traps.

A network of volunteers helps maintain the land and works with local school and community groups.

As well as offering activities for young people, the wildlife area is also open for people of all ages to walk their dogs and enjoy the local wildlife.

The Getting Closer to Nature site also won a gold award at the recent Northumbria in Bloom, with Desmond Consitt also picking up a community champion award.

Desmond said: “As someone who has been involved in the community for some 20 years, I have seen some changes and not always for the best. One of the roles for people from my generation is to give young ones the tools to grow and develop, and I think it’s important to engage young people in our community with conservation, to keep our small community wild spaces protected.

“Thanks to a lot of hard work from myself, Alison and our team volunteers, the Getting Closer to Nature project will help make young people aware of the wildlife living on their doorstep and help to give a home to wildlife in Seaham.

“To have our work recognised by Northumbria in Bloom is fantastic, we’re all so proud to have won a gold award and it makes all the hard work worth it.”

Grant funding from believe housing’s Community Investment Team helped to get the Getting Closer to Nature project off the ground. A grant of £17,970 allowed Desmond and his team of volunteers to purchase the materials needed to build the site.

Damian Pearson, Community Investment Team Leader for believe housing, said: “We were delighted to fund Greenscapes’ Getting Closer to Nature project, which is supporting the natural environment, enhancing the community, and creating opportunities for residents to feel the physical and mental health benefits of spending more time outdoors.

“Keeping in touch with nature is important for everyone and the more that young people understand and appreciate it, the better they can help protect it in the future.

“The site is fantastic and, as it’s a short walk away from our Seaham office, I’ll be looking forward to a couple of walks on my lunch break in the future.”