Seeds Bring History to Life

SEEDS collected from historic wildflower meadows surrounding Durham Tees Valley Airport are being used to transform a town.

The grasslands at Middleton St George are packed with wildflowers that attract hundreds of butterflies to the rare habitat.

The meadows are untouched by fertilisers and continue to reflect how the local countryside would have looked nearly 70 years ago – when the airport site was a wartime RAF base.

Now Darlington Council is making good use of the site as a result of its partnership with the airport and seeds gathered from meadows have been used on a newly-created area of land as part of the Source of the Denes project at Cocker Beck, in Darlington.

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’s operations director, Kerry Quinn, said: “It might seem a bit unusual that an airport should be such a rich source of rare plants and seeds.

“However, the very fact that large areas of our site have remained trapped in time since it opened is what makes it so unusual and we are delighted to be working with the council on making use of our heritage.”

Bill Dixon, Darlington Council’s Cabinet member for neighbourhood services, said: “We are delighted to have the chance to work alongside the airport, which is home to these wonderful meadows, on a project that will hopefully be of major benefit across the town.”

(c) 2008 Evening Gazette – Middlesbrough. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.