Wildlife reserve hit by suspected arson attack

The pond dipping platform, most of the boardwalk, plus a large percentage of the surrounding grassland at East Chevington, near Amble, have been destroyed by fire.

As the boardwalk and dipping platform were made from recycled plastic, they burnt very quickly sending plumes of black smoke into the air that could be seen across the Druridge Bay area.

Northumberland Wildlife Trust, which manages the reserve, would like to thank the members of the public who raised the alarm and the already overstretched fire crew whose rapid response to the calls averted a bigger blaze. It took 50 minutes for the fire to be extinguished and the area declared safe.

Two days before the fire, staff and volunteers had been inspecting the pond which was teeming with newts, frogs, dragon flies and damselflies.

However, as the fire raged, the plastic melted into the pond, causing untold damage to the resident wildlife.

A Trust spokesperson said: “This mindless act of vandalism will have an impact on the Catch My Drift project which is working to protect and revive threatened habitats and species on the Druridge Bay site, whilst, at the same time, providing a wonderful nature experience for people of all ages.

“One of the aims of the Catch My Drift project is to work with the local East Chevington community, however, this has been massively affected as a number of the project’s free community events over the summer, many of which were aimed at encouraging children to appreciate nature, will now have to be cancelled.”

Staff and volunteers will begin the clean-up operation next week. All burnt materials will be scraped out of the pond and the remainder of the boardwalk will need to be pulled up and disposed of.

Anybody wishing to support the clean-up can visit www.nwt.org.uk/support-us/donate and select Catch My Drift in the drop down box.

The wildlife charity is no stranger to destruction on its sites.

In June 2010, the visitor centre on its Hauxley reserve at Druridge Bay was destroyed in an arson attack and had to be rebuilt. In March 2021, four of its wildlife-watching hides on the Hauxley reserve had windows and benches broken.