Grassland project at Durham Tees Valley Airport
18.01.08
New wildflower meadows are bringing a bit of the 1940s to Darlington, thanks to an link-up between the council and Durham Tees Valley Airport.
Grasslands surrounding the airport are packed with wildflowers that attract hundreds of butterflies to the rare habitat. The meadows have been untouched by modern fertilisers and continue to reflect how the local countryside would have looked 70 years ago - when the airport was a wartime RAF base.
Now, Darlington Council making good use of the meadows, as a result of its partnership with the airport. Seeds gathered from the site have been used to help create an area of land as part of the Source of the Denes project at Cocker Beck, in Darlington. It is hoped the area will become a flower-rich meadow next spring.
The airport allowed specially adapted machinery to collect wildflower and grass seed from each side of the runway. The partnership could expand further this year by taking greater amounts of wildflower seed and using it in new parts of the town, such as the Red Hall Nature Reserve.
Durham Tees Valley Airport operations director, Kerry Quinn, said the fact that large areas of the site have remained trapped in time since it opened makes the project unusual. He said that they were delighted to work with the council making use of our heritage.
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