Looking back over the past year has been a real treat. It’s easy to forget the little moments that make up a whole year, but putting together these annual recaps gives us at Wild Intrigue a chance to take a breath and reflect on what we’ve been up to – what’s excited us, what hasn’t quite worked, and where we can grow a meaningful impact.
As the year ticks its final tocks, I’m filled with joy over what our small team accomplished. We often collaborate with others, and I’m so proud and positive looking back on what a few passionate people can achieve together for wildlife and people.
With this in mind, I want to share our heartfelt appreciation to every person and each organisation who chooses to support us. Without you joining our adventures, engaging on social media, reading our blogs, chatting with us about wildlife, and supporting us in so many ways – we simply wouldn’t exist. Thank you all for being part of the journey <3
Okay, cheesy bit over, here’s some of our 2024 highlights!
Nature-based Tourism in The North
This year the Wild Intrigue team hosted 383 wildlife experiences (our most yet!) from our collection of 29 Mini Expeds plus 11 exclusive experiences organised with partners.
As always, we LOVED spending precious, wild moments with thousands of people, linking with 25 organisations in The North to make it happen.
Four new experiences launched this year: Night Out with Nightjars in the Tyne Valley + Afternoon Tea in the Woodland Hide at Wild Haweswater + Beaver Enclosure Safaris and Dusk Beaver Safaris at NT Wallington. The lovely response you shared for these mean they’re all coming back in 2025!
Beyond inspiring an intrigue for the wilds, it’s important to us that our wildlife experiences support a regenerative, nature-based economy in Northern England. Thanks to our experience attendees, we redirected around £10,000 back to the local economy in 2024; this includes species-focussed groups, sustainable local producers, land-managers and wildlife NGO’s.
Images: Goats & Gourmet / Dusk Beaver Safari / Bats & Beers
SHARING NORTHUMBERLAND’S FIRST BEAVER FAMILY
In July 2023, the National Trust Wallington team, supported by the Reece Foundation and Beaver Trust, made a pioneering move to host the first enclosed beaver release in Northumberland – opening up discussions on their eventual wild reintroduction. This April, we launched Beaver Enclosure Safaris for visitors to explore the wetlands created by the beavers and see the family in action during special Dusk Beaver Safaris.
It’s been wonderful to finally share our expertise on Beavers, gathered from across Britain and Europe, right here in our home county. This season, 270 people joined a Wild Intrigue beaver experience, and we’re excited to share more insights on this in the new year.
Some personal highlights include watching the wetland grow through the Beavers’ handiwork, observing the family’s seasonal food preferences shift from Meadowsweet to Rowan, and the pure delight of seeing a fluffy, paddle-tailed beaver kit emerge from the lodge during our Dusk Beaver Watches.
Images: Heather leading a Beaver Enclosure Safari / Rowan branches nibbled by Beavers.
WILD OUSEBURN
In January, we launched Wild Ouseburn, aiming to explore, record, and celebrate the wildlife of the Lower Ouseburn Valley. The response has been so heartwarming and motivating – the local community has embraced the project with open arms and continue to transform and evolve it. We’re thrilled by the project’s achievements this year – all thanks to the local community.
Following our initial Aviva Community Crowdfunder, we were delighted to receive grants from the Rewilding Britain Innovation Fund, Northumbrian Water Branch Out Fund, Malings Community Fund, and Northumberland and Tyneside Bird Club. This funding has supported various Wild Ouseburn initiatives, from a nest box and ringing scheme to an Urban Dark Skies weekend, nature-based education + training, and more.
Wild Ouseburn will continue into 2025 and beyond, and we’re looking forward to celebrating its first birthday at the end of January. Stay tuned for a full update on the project’s progress!
Images: Otter on the lower Ouse Burn / Wild Ouseburn member surveying birds.
TYNE DERWENT WAY | NATURE LEADS
In late 2024, Wild Intrigue jumped aboard the Tyne Derwent Way partnership as the project’s Nature Leads. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with this lovely team from Gateshead Council, National Trust, Tyne & Wear Building Preservation Trust, Newcastle University and Northumbria University.
We’ve been recording wildlife, helping to develop habitat enhancements for nature and hosting wildlife experiences – with a particular focus on Gateshead Riverside Park and the wonderful birdlife of the Tyne Estuary this year.
If you haven’t discovered the Tyne Derwent Way yet, check it out here.
Image: Cain leading a Dawn Chorus Disco experience on The Staiths.
TYNE KITTIWAKES
With the Tyne Bridge works now underway, the Tyne Kittiwake colony received some new “Kittiwake Hotels” thanks to the Tyne Kittiwake Partnership (TKP). These new nesting ledges were calculated using Daniel Turner’s survey data to supplement lost nesting habitat during the bridge works on the Gateshead side of the Tyne.
Kittiwakes can be a tad ‘particular’ it turns out and didn’t use the Tower Hotels, however many took up some ‘river-view apartments’ installed on the scaffolding.
For a full update check our Daniel Turner’s excellent 2024 breeding data report here.
Alongside the essential bridge maintenance, the Kittiwakes faced an unnecessary disturbance at one of their strongholds, the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. An ill-considered light and sound installation on the north-facing ledge during breeding season sparked major concern and prompted many TKP members to take action to prevent such instances in the future.
Despite the challenges, the urban seabird mecca of the the Tyne Kittiwakes continued to inspire many visitors to the Quayside. This Red Listed seabird needs our understanding now more than ever, so we were delighted to share their ecology through two very intriguing events this year, in addition to our usual collection.
First was An Evening with Hayden Thorpe and the Tyne Kittiwakes, a collaboration between The Glasshouse, musician Hayden Thorpe and Wild Intrigue to share the beauty and inspiration of urban nature and music.
Then came a new challenge for us… sharing the Tyne Kittiwakes with 130 UK National Parks Conference delegates– after the birds had left for winter! The result was a brand new, shared acoustic-experience, which we’re looking forward to rolling out in 2025!
We were also lucky to document Northumbria Ringing Group ringing Kittiwakes on the Saltmeadows Tower; an incredible project which helps researchers understand the global movements of Black-legged Kittiwakes.
Images clockwise from top left: An Evening with Hayden Thorpe & the Tyne Kittiwakes / Family Kittiwakes & Doughnuts / Kittiwake ringing / Shieldfield comedian Elaine Robertson recording voice as “Kitty” for our acoustic tour
WILD INTRIGUE TEAM | RESEARCH + TRAINING
In January we (Heather and Cain) travelled to London for some urban nature inspiration. Our main goal was to meet with the Ealing Wildlife Group to explore their impressive Ealing Beaver Project – this was spectacular, and continues to inspire urban beaver discussions.
We also visited Cody Dock to explore opportunities to share information through Wild Ouseburn, and met with wonderful Leanne from Wilder, who shared her work in urban rewilding – de-paving was a particular highlight!
We also undertook Scything Training with the Ouseburn Trust to help manage grassland areas using this traditional skill in the city, as well maintaining our Woodland Wildlife Hide at Wild Haweswater.
Cain went on an adventure to the New Forest, taking the train to London and then biking the rest of the way to attend a BTO Nest Record Scheme training course.
In August, Heather completed courses to enhance her expertise as a beaver ecologist including, CIEEM: Beaver Survey Methods and Mitigation and CIEEM: Beaver Ecology and Field Sign Identification.
Unless we need to carry large equipment (such as tables), we always travel by foot and public transport to attend courses – even if they’re in Europe!
In July we said a fond farewell to our Wild Hides Ranger, Matthew, who’s now settling into his great new job and spending lots of time outdoors.
Images: Cain and Heather with Nadya, Co-ordinator of Ealing Beaver Project / Cain arriving at New Forest / Heather scything in Ouseburn.
OTHER BITS & BOBS
This year we moved into a new office space at 51 Lime Street in Ouseburn, alongside The Ouseburn Trust. We were chuffed to help decide which species should be included on the outside wall mural, alongside our pal Mike Jeffries.
We’ve been out and about filming a lot, producing eight films for various organisations, including Tyne Rivers Trust, Berwickshire & Northumberland Marine Nature Partnership, Ullswater Catchment Management CIC and some upcoming films for the Northumberland Coast National Landscape.
We’ve featured in the media too! Our experiences were included in a Guardian article, How to rewild your teenagers: A parents guide to reconnecting them with Nature, and Heather appeared in articles about the return of Beavers to Northumberland with the National Trust, such as this one where Heather was caught off-guard talking about the intrigue of Beaver anuses… We were delighted that our Breakfast with Red Squirrels segment with John Craven aired for a second time on a BBC Countryfile special on Britain’s Rarest Creatures. We were also features on Channel 4 applying for a farm tenancy, but let’s leave that for another day…
If you’ve made it this far, you fully deserve a certificate – or at least a cuppa if you visit us in Ouseburn!
Thank you again for your support this year. We love what we do, and we hope you do too. We’re looking forward to another year of experiences, projects, and yet-unseen adventures in the wilds of The North.
– Heather and Cain
Image: A Nightjar perching at dusk, from Night Out with Nightjars experience.