Bellway staff survey biodiversity project they helped plant in Ponteland

Employees from Bellway’s head office in Newcastle teamed up with Earthwatch to maintain and monitor the small plantation, which the housebuilder planted last year on land off Eland Lane in partnership with the environmental charity.

The teams took measurements, recorded insects and pollinators and planted new trees in the patch of woodland.

Later in the day, Bellway hosted pupils from the Percy Hedley School, Benfield School and Ponteland High School, who visited the site to lend a helping hand.

A Tiny Forest is a dense, fast-growing native woodland, about the size of a tennis court.

Neil Beamsley, group head of biodiversity for Bellway, said: “It was wonderful to revisit the Tiny Forest that we helped plant last year with the team from Earthwatch. We feel incredibly connected to this plantation, which is on land we own, and will create a natural and unique habitat for wildlife.”