Work

Oakenshaw Reserve was created on the site of a former surface coal mine operated by Banks Mining between 1991 and 1993. After mining operations ceased, the area was restored and transformed into a nature reserve, and now features three ponds, one with an island, and a network of footpaths. Over 41,000 trees were planted, including Scots Pine, Sitka Spruce, Larch, Sessile Oak, and various other species, creating diverse wildlife habitats.

Part of the greater North Pennines, which contains several Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The surrounding region is rich in protected areas and The North Pennines includes moorlands, wetlands, old quarries, and ancient woods. Nearby, the Bollihope, Pikestone, Eggleston and Woodland Fells are designated as an SSSI, primarily for their moorland habitat consisting of upland heath and bogs. Pine Woods is situated along the Weardale Way, a long-distance footpath, and is approximately 2 miles from the village of Frosterley.

Home to both Red and Small Fallow deer, Raby Deer Park is an expansive 200-acre woodland which underwent recent expansion and includes conifer and broadleaves amongst the South-West part of Bath Wood and arable fields to the west, as well as a water course with areas of low-lying wet ground and two areas of newly sown, deer specific grassland. Both herds of deer present in this park include the descendants of deer which have been here since Normal Times.

Characterised by a broad dene clothed in coniferous woodland, open pasture in the upper valley with regular grids of parliamentary enclosure walls and hedges, scattered conifer plantations and farms served by narrow roads, and fragmented field systems of older hedges around arable fields, Stockley Beck is a waterway located in County Durham, England. It is a tributary of the River Wear and flows through the Coalfield Valley landscape character area. The beck runs through a narrow valley that broadens as it approaches the valley terraces of the Wear Lowlands.