Special resident found at Ponteland schools site

Then one day earlier this year, when she was walking past on her way to school, Year Eight pupil Hannah Patterson, 12, spotted a special little creature.

She said: "I used to walk past here to school and look in the pond. One day I was looking and I saw a newt. It didn't look like a normal smooth one, it was black and bumpy. I told the school and a man from the wildlife trust came to look.

"He found some eggs and we saw one come up for air."

The mystery creature turned out to be a great-crested newt. Kevin O'Hara from Northumberland Wildlife Trust (NWT) was called to do a survey and work on the pond was halted while the presence of the newts was assessed.

Steve Lowe, head of conservation from the NWT, said: "They are a fully protected species and their status in Northumberland is relatively unknown, although they are uncommon.

"We have now found 92 ponds in Northumberland which have them. Just three years ago we only knew of 12, but we have made a concerted effort to look.

"It's great to find a pond with newts in, particularly so close to a school, from an educational point of view.

"But because it's a protected species there are issues we've had to take care of in clearing the pond."

The site is also a magnet for some beautiful British birds such as bullfinch and goldfinch and water boatmen and pond skaters live around the pond.

And alongside these are every kind of UK amphibian - frogs and the three types of newt, smooth, great-crested and palmate.

They are hoping to work with the parish council, police and school to bring in extra resources, improve the area and make it into a designated reserve which pupils and the local community respect.

They are hoping to raise funds to put in a pond-dipping platform, seats and some signs to explain about the wildlife found at the site.

Steve said: "It's management really. Once you get a piece of litter in a place like this people think it's OK to dump stuff. We have removed quite a bit of garden waste. We want to manage the trees and woodland and keep the paths clear so it feels more cared for.

"I feel if we've got people involved in the site they will take more care of it, particularly the local schoolchildren.

"It's good to see so many young people getting involved. They have worked really hard on quite a mucky task."

During one morning on site the group removed a skip-full of rubbish, taking away everything from a rotten fence to broken glass bottles.

Hannah said: "The pond's much better now, before it was a woodland rubbish dump. Now it's better for wildlife and people."

Former pupil Anna Glenwright, 18, now a French and geography student at Newcastle University, said: "It's good fun and good to give something back. Because of working on the reserve I ended up going to New Zealand to do some conservation work."

Ponteland High School science teacher Graham Tulip said: "We want to try to impress on the students that the pond belongs to them. It has turned out to be a brilliant nature reserve with minimal effort so if we get some grants we could do something wonderful."

If you could help the school with finding grants and funding contact Gordon Baldwin, the high school's business manager, on (01661) 824711.