Wildlife conservation at Gibside

Some of our key species

• Red kites

  Red kites were reintroduced to northeast England in 2004 by the ‘Northern Kites’ project, after over 170 years of these birds being absent from our skies. Between 2004 and 2006, 94 red kites were released in the Derwent Valley area including several at National Trust Gibside. In 2006, three chicks were born, the first red kites to be born in the area in nearly 200 years. We work with Friends of Red Kites, an organisation dedicated to monitoring red kite populations in the North East, to understand how red kites are doing at Gibside. Although there have been successful red kite chicks born at Gibside in the past, they have failed to nest for the last few years. The ranger team are investigating ways that we might encourage them to continue to use the habitat at Gibside, including reducing disturbance around potential nesting sites. Despite red kites being a common sight above Gibside today, the battle is not over to ensure that these birds have a sustainable population.

  We work with organisations to monitor other bird populations at Gibside, particularly through surveying nest boxes. A volunteer team do regular bird ringing at Gibside. Bird ringing creates data that allows the British Trust for Ornithology to monitor the movements and lifespan of the UK’s birds. The team recently found a tawny owl that had lived to be over 17 years old, originally ringed at Gibside. This is exceptionally old for a tawny owl in the wild, and tells us that we are providing a great habitat for them.

• Newts

  Gibside is lucky to be home to all three species of native newt: great crested newts, smooth newts, and palmate newts. Populations of newts are suffering severely from habitat loss, particularly the loss of ponds. Great crested newts prefer clean ponds, so their presence indicates a healthy ecosystem. However, land habitats are also important because newts spend the majority of their life on land, using ponds during spring and early summer only to mate and lay eggs.

  The ranger team at Gibside carry out regular surveys to monitor the population. This can be through temporarily trapping the news in bottle traps, catching newts in nets, using torches to search the water at night, and searching for eggs. All survey work is supervised by a ranger with a special licence, as newts are protected under UK law.

• Bats

  The ruins at Gibside may not be home to people anymore, but they do support a significant population of bats. The Stables supports one of the largest maternity roosts of soprano pipistrelle bats in the North East, and Gibside Hall provides a shelter for brown long-eared bats. Seven other species of bat have been recorded at Gibside: common pipistrelles, Nathusius' pipistrelles, Daubenton's bats, noctules, Natterer's bats, Brandt's bats and whiskered bats.

  In partnership with Northumberland Bat Group, Gibside Rangers regularly survey these bats, including checking the bat boxes we have all around the site. This can also involve using bat detectors, devices which can pick up on the ultrasound calls of bats and convert them into sounds that humans can hear.