Today we headed to Low Barns nature reserve Durham Wildlife Trust in Witton - Le - Wear near the river Wear, it is around 50 Hectares of pure beauty. We absolutely love it here and today we just had so much fun.
I am pretty sure that those who regularly read my posts will have gathered that we, as a family, just love to be adventuring out into nature. Myself and Craig have always loved nature, I have a soft spot for Entomology and all three boys have shown an interest in bugs, birds, insects, trees and anything nature based really. Low Barns definitely offers the chance to find all of what we love. First you come into the large car park which has a visitors centre, cafe and toilets. Today due to social distancing rules there is one toilet to use, the cafe is takeaway only and they have a one way system in place for the whole site. It all works pretty well and it wasn't that busy anyway.
We visited all 4 bird hides that we came across throughout our walk, these are limited as to how many people are allowed in, some are limited to 6 people, some 2. We were quite lucky and spotted some ducks, geese, oystercatchers, heron and coops.
The site consists of woodlands, ponds and grasslands.
Then as we were walking from the first hide Elliot squealed with excitement, he had found a frog! Now let me just tell you that Elliot is obsessed with Frogs and toads he gently put his hand out and it hopped into his hand, as you can imagine the pure joy on his face. This totally made his day.
We also spotted dragonflies, lots of butterflies, various spiders and lots and lots of different flowers. We were greeted at one of the hides by the gorgeous Exmoor ponies. You can also get down near the river but please be extra careful because it can be slippy and the current is stronger than it looks. You can also smell so much Garlic in the woodland, it smells amazing.
Close to the visitors centre is a Butterfly garden, this is super cute and contains over grown wildflowers that just look and smell amazing, a lovely bench, a pond and various insects.
So today we :
Said hello to some Exmoor ponies.
Spotted Dragonflies
Held frogs
Watched the many different types of birds
Looked for Newts
Admired all the bugs and insects we spotted
Watched the butterflies dance amongst the wildflowers
Studied a spider web in one of the hides (a spider even came and said hi)
Photographed and looked in detail at the flowers
Visited 4 bird hides
Took lots of photos
Spotted deer prints
Studied a bird print in the river
Had a picnic
What I didn't like
The only things that I didn't like was a grumpy man chit chatting away telling me to be quiet as I walked into the first bird hide. I wasn't making any noise and he was the only one being disruptive!
Two men were walking a dog and were letting it poop everywhere without picking it up. This is a pet hate for me.
The important info
Large car park with disabled bays, non members are asked to donate £2 for parking.
Only 1 toilet is open, this is a disabled toilet allowing access for everyone with a waiting line outside.
Hand sanitiser available.
Cafe is takeaway only
Dogs are allowed if kept on leads and PLEASE PICK THE POOP UP!
Limited number of people allowed in the hides.
Please note that some of the bird hides are not accessible to those in wheelchairs with steps going up to some of the hides.
DL14 0AG
Opening times vary
10am - 5pm April - October
10am - 4pm November - March weekends only
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