An 18-year-old man been charged in connection with a fire at an industrial estate compound in Hartlepool, while a 23-year-old man has been charged in connection with criminal damage on Meryl Gardens following a crash into the property.

The arson took place on Monday, April 6, shortly before midnight at Auto Transportation on Coniston Road, where 12 vehicles were destroyed in the fire.

The second incident happened shortly after 6am on Tuesday, April 7, where a car was driven into the property on Meryl Gardens.

The 18-year-old man has been charged with arson and possession of an offensive weapon. 

The 23-year-old man has been charged with criminal damage with intent to endanger life and dangerous driving.

They both appeared before Teesside Magistrates’ Court on Saturday, April 25, and have been remanded in custody until their next appearance.

Just days before the Battle of Britain began in July 1940, more than 800 civilians were killed off the coast of Ireland when a German U-Boat sank a converted five-star cruise ship.

The people on board were German, Austrian and Italian internees – deemed enemy aliens by the UK government – who were being deported to Canada.

Why the Nazis sank a civilian ship has never been fully explained.

But the sinking of the Arandora Star remains one of the lesser known war crimes of the second world war.

My research has examined the oral histories of some of the Italian families, based in the UK, who remember the second world war. My latest project has looked into the long-term effects of Arandora Star sinking as it was experienced and transmitted across generations.

The attack

The Arandora Star was a first class cruise liner built in 1927 by the Cammell Laird Company Ltd, in Birkenhead, near Liverpool. It was one of the best-known ships in the world at the time.

When the war broke out, the Arandora, like many commercial ships, was placed at the disposal of the British government. Under the command of Captain E.W. Moulton, the Arandora was ordered to carry German, Austrian and Italian internees from Liverpool to Canada.

More than 1,600 men were forced onto the ship which was actually designed to carry 500. Internees were crammed below decks and the exits were guarded by barbed wire.

On July 2 1940 – the morning after it embarked on its voyage – the Arandora was torpedoed by a German U-boat, 100 miles northwest of Ireland.

Around 805 men, over 50 percent of the total number drowned, were Italian. About 100 British soldiers and crew members also lost their life, including the ship’s captain.

One British sailor told the press in 1940 that the Arandora Star turned half over on her side and sank, carrying down the occupants of several life rafts. “When the ship disappeared,” the sailor said, “there were hundreds of men on her decks … A cloud of steam rose a hundred feet in the air, and the suction dragged rafts and men underneath with her”.

But the ship’s traumatic final moments were just the start of the story for the families of those involved.

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Part of my study involved making a 15-minute documentary, entitled The Arandora Star Sinking, to raise awareness about the xenophobia and discrimination faced by the people and communities who were left behind.

The film captures memories of the incident from the perspective of one of the descendants.

Vincenzo Margiotta

Vincenzo Margiotta is a third generation Italian based in Liverpool, whose grandfather was interned and died on the Arandora Star.

Margiotta’s family migrated to Scotland at the beginning of the 20th century, from Picinisco, Lazio, and established businesses in catering.

“Things were great. Life was good,” he said – until the outbreak of the second world war. Following Benito Mussolini’s declaration of war, on June 10 1940, anti-Italian feeling erupted among British citizens.

Around 4,500 Italian men between the ages of 16 and 70 with less than 20 years’ residence in Britain were ordered to be interned, including Margiotta’s grandfather.

Research has shown how Italian internees were regarded as the most “dangerous characters”. They were deported even though their degree of loyalty to the fascists had not been assessed.

Public opinion in the UK was initially in favour of the internment of “enemy aliens”. However, after the tragedy of the Arandora Star – and as a result of campaigns by various members of parliament – opinion changed and supported the release of “loyal” internees. Eventually internees were able to apply for release and many of them served in the armed forces.

Information vacuum

Over the years, Margiotta heard many stories about what happened to his grandfather.

One reason for this is because the official history was unclear. Why, for example, were none of the deportation transport ships marked as carrying prisoners of war? Instead, they set sail unaccompanied, equipped with anti-submarine guns, and employing a zigzag pattern in their movements – making the ships obvious targets for German U-boats.

Research has also shown that next of kin of internees were not informed about the Arandora disaster for weeks and only some families received a notification of “missing presumed drowned”, in April 1941, when the Home Office missing list was finalised.

Consequently, memories transmitted via word of mouth among family and community members were the main sources this group had available to them.

Margiotta said: “My knowledge of the incident was hearing stories around the table from other families”, adding:

Somebody pushed my grandfather off the ship, and told him to jump into the water … he was frightened, as he couldn’t swim – screaming in disbelief at what was happening around him … and then was never seen again.

This spoken mode of transmission of memories might have contributed to speculation and intrigue. The sinking has been subject to divergent tales and invention.

Gold bullion?

Margiotta said conspiracy theories included, “stories of it carrying gold bullion to take to Canada to fund the war chest for the UK … it was carrying soldiers; lots of stories. All have been unfounded. But I guess there is a story somewhere that needs to come out”.

It is evident how the lack of official information and records caused a sense of injustice for the loss of civilians. As Margiotta told me at the end of our interview:

…Why would the enemy wish to torpedo a ship like that? Why was a converted five-star cruise ship … torpedoed? There’s a lot of unanswered questions.

Margiotta represents just one of the many victims’ relatives who expressed the need to find answers to these basic questions.

In my previous research I spoke to Anglo-Italian families in the north-east of England who all shared the same pain and frustration. It’s time these questions were answered.

I’m A Celebrity’s latest Jungle Legend has shared a sweet family message but appeared to take a subtle swipe at events from the ITV show

Adam Thomas is trying to move on following his I’m A Celebrity win and the chaotic drama that it involved – but appeared to have one last dig at the events. The Waterloo Road star was crowned this series’ Jungle Legend, but only after a huge fallout involving Jimmy Bullard and David Haye.

What was supposed to be a joyous moment had Adam looking downbeat and he reportedly threw his crown to the floor during the live event. But he now insists “crowns don’t really matter” as he shares happy moments with his son.

Moving away from the jungle mayhem, Adam is seen with a smile on his face again as he celebrates his son’s own accolades. Hugging into 11-year-old Teddy, Adam wrote on Instagram : “My boy came home this weekend with four trophies from his dance comps!!

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“But honestly, it wasn’t even about the trophies… it was his face. Just pure happiness, proper proud of himself. That’s what winning should feel like, super proud of the boy.”

He then candidly added: “One thing I’ve learnt though is as you get older you start to realise, it’s not about trophies or crowns, none of that really matters. I already won a long time ago. Everything I need is right here.”

Adam’s jungle campmate Scarlett Moffatt was on hand to praise the youngster. In the comments section, the former Gogglebox star said: “Massive well done teddy.” Gemma Collins also liked the post.

It comes days after Adam looked despondent following his win. He had been accused of being “intimidating” after his kick-off in camp when he thought Jimmy Bullard had caused him to go home.

The mirky moments overshadowed what should have been a proud moment for the soap star. And things took such a turn that fellow I’m A Celeb star Ashley Roberts spoke of her anger and disappointment at how things panned out.

The Pussycat Dolls star, 44, was back alongside Amanda Holden on Monday morning’s Heart FM, where she explained: “It was unhinged. I felt like I was on The Jerry Springer Show.

“It was just unbelievable, people were walking off, hands were flying everywhere, there was yelling and emotions and crying…it was wild! It’s a shame because Adam did become the Legend, and I don’t think he was even able to enjoy it because of all the drama that went on.”

She continued: “He had a really tough time in there and it was unfortunate that they had a chance to discuss things as adults and maybe clear the air a little bit. Instead, it was yelling and just unfortunate behaviour.

“I was disappointed, my heart hurt a bit inside. There is so much going on the world and for us to then treat each other like that. We all went through this really tough experience and we all could have sat and discussed things like adult. It was live telly, it’s TV show and it’s supposed to be entertaining. I was a little bit disappointed by their behaviour.

“I was angry. I was seeing the way these men were speaking to each other and it made me really sad. It happened back in September and instead of having a reflective moment, it was more like we were still in September and the tensions were through the roof.

“I get that you wanna go there and say your piece. You should be able to say it from your point of view but it all just seemed really immature, and unfortunate and aggressive.”

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The Bear Wolf actor opened up about his own father’s depression amid the difficult modern slavery storyline

Emmerdale actor Joshua Richards revealed his sister found Bear Wolf’s storyline “unbearable” as it mirrored their father’s depression.

After Bear confessed to killing Ray Walters who exploited him along with Celia Daniels, coming up on May 4 it’s the day of court. The next day Paddy and the family nervously arrive at court before Bear’s testimony to see whether Bear will make or break the case.

The tension lessens briefly when Bear’s counsellor commences by giving a powerful expert testimony, explaining how Bear was groomed by Ray and feared for his life. With his family watching encouragingly, a nervous Bear Wolf then takes the witness stand to begin his own testimony…

Speaking with the Manchester Evening News and other press about how he’s found the storyline, Joshua said: “Yeah it’s been… it’s the whole spectrum. I’ve been across it. It’s been upsetting as well, because I have actually mentioned this already, but my own father had a kind of depression in his later years. And what was weird is, as I’ve got older, I’ve become to resemble my father more and more.

“My sister, watching it on TV, found it unbearable, because it was like watching our father again, go through the same thing, but because somebody said to me, Well, is it dementia? No, it’s depression, because that’s what we thought of my father. It wasn’t dementia at all, he was just unable to do the things that he used to do, because he was a big, strong man, and he could no longer do the things that kept him happy. So he felt redundant in life, and that was the key for me, because I understood it. I’ve seen it first hand.

“My father was actually hospitalised with it. We did eventually get him out, but he was never the same again because he lost his raison d’être. What do I do? I take a fishing boat out and I catch fish. My father was also coxswain of a lifeboat. He saved lives. Then suddenly he becomes a frail old man, and that’s what’s happened.

“That is happening in Bear’s mind. He’s no longer this reliable, strong person, that he is redundant and in the way. So I could understand how to do that, and then for him to have these absences that we called it with my father, to just disappear. Where are you? You think, is it dementia? No, he’s preoccupied with the fact he’s redundant and he’s useless.

“So that was a great insight from my own personal experience, from my own father, which fuelled and informed me, for everything else across the spectrum, for Bear about what was happening to him. So it was upsetting for me as well, because when you take on a role like that, in, for instance, if you do in a play, you learn the script, you do it the same every night. It’s the same thing you do, you repeat it.

“But with this, you come into work, what do I do next? Where does he go next? It never stops. It’s not static. It’s constantly evolving. So you’ve got to start changing the way you think on a daily basis and it becomes quite gruelling after a while. Always with actors, say well, it’s quite simple, I just do what it says on the…no, you’ve got to invest in it.

“Otherwise you can’t portray it. It doesn’t come over. You’re just acting. You’ve got to do more than act. You’ve got to live it. Otherwise, feel it. Otherwise, it doesn’t read when people watch it. There’s got to be something deeper. I’m not being precious about acting at all. It’s just that it happened to be something I knew. Otherwise, I would have just did what it said on the tin.”

Now that the storyline is coming to its end, Joshua admitted he’s “over the moon”, and on switching off from the role, he added: “It’s quite difficult. It’s quite difficult. You get home and you…because you’ve got to learn the lines for the following day. You’ve got to go back.

“You finish work here, and then you go home. You sit down. You’re still working. And of course, it’s gone on from what you’ve already done today, you’re into another. So yeah, it’s difficult to switch off and sometimes you just think, God. I hope this ends soon, because this is killing me. I’d never thought I’d say that.”

Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 8pm on ITV1 and is available to stream on ITVX.

With support from Bolton Council and Conservation Contracts North West (CCNW), a new boardwalk with handrails has been installed along the public right of way from Walker Fold Road to the Green Bridge.

This marks the completion of the latest phase of access improvements on the estate.

In partnership with Bolton Council’s Public Rights of Way team, several upgrades have been delivered across the estate, helping to restore and improve footpaths.

The Smithills Estate is the largest site the Woodland Trust has acquired in England and is steeped in history, offering a wide range of walking routes.

With picturesque woodlands, well-used trails and expansive open spaces, the estate attracts visitors from across Bolton and beyond.

Eddee Endley, events and communications officer for Smithills Estate, told The Bolton News: “It’s clear that people are really engaged with the recent footpath improvements at Smithills.

“The response has been so supportive, and we are keen to maintain momentum for site improvements by gathering further feedback at our public consultations.”

Other works include new steps and a boardwalk in Roscoe’s Wood, repaired steps along the Trespass Track, a new boardwalk over Dean Ditch near Winter Hill TV Mast, and a replacement bridge between Coal Pit and Cunliffe.

A new bridge across Holden’s Reservoir, above Holden’s Plantation and below the Brick and Tile Works, has also been built.

The updated pathways will make walks on and around the estate more accessible and user-friendly for ramblers.

The Woodland Trust is now working on a new access project to ensure the site meets the needs of both residents and wildlife.

Bolton residents can put forward their views on future changes by attending upcoming consultations.

Eddee said: “We have two final in-person consultations at Horwich Community Centre (April 28) and Astley Bridge Cricket Club (April 30) from 18:30 – 20:00.

“We have also decided to host an online consultation on May 13 from 18:00 – 19:00, to ensure those who cannot join us in person can still share their thoughts.”

Residents can sign up via Eventbrite by searching: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/woodland-trust-north-75162025843

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT The film, co-produced by Steven Spielberg, was marred by a horrific helicopter crash on set which resulted in three deaths

A horrific tragedy occurred on a major Hollywood film set which led to the deaths of two children and the decapitation of star Vic Morrow.

The Twilight Zone was an adaptation of a beloved 1960s series, co-produced and co-directed by Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg, the genius behind ET, Jaws, Jurassic Park and Gremlins.

The film consisted of different segments helmed by various directors including Spielberg, John Landis, Joe Dante and George Miller. Shot in 1982, this Twilight Zone adaptation was set to feature Vic Morrow, a 1970s superstar who gained fame following the 1960s series Combat!

But Morrow would never live to star in this production. The actor would die aged 53 alongside child actors, seven-year-old Myca Dinh Le and six-year-old Renee Shin-Yi Chen, in a helicopter stunt which went disastrously wrong, reports the New York Times.

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John Landis, not Spielberg, was the director of the segment in question.

On July 23, 1982, at 2.20am, during the shooting of Landis’s ‘Time Out’ storyline, the catastrophe struck.

Filming on location at Indian Dunes, California, the helicopter involved plummeted.

The scene was shot at night, with its backdrop meant to resemble Vietnam as the film was set during the war.

Morrow, who was portraying a racist character called Bill Connor, was meant to carry the two children from an abandoned village across a river during a US army pursuit scene, with the helicopter set to hover overhead.

The New York Times reported the production was “poorly planned” and “barely rehearsed”, leading to one of the scene’s intended explosions damaging the helicopter’s rotor blades, causing the pilot to lose control.

The helicopter then plummeted from the sky and into the river, decapitating Morrow and Le while crushing Chen to death.

Shockingly, the accident was witnessed by the children’s parents, who were on the set.

The six people aboard the helicopter during the crash were only slightly injured when it plunged into the river bed near the Six Flags Magic Mountain Amusement Park.

Following the incident, civil and criminal legal proceedings were initiated against staff supervising the shoot, including Landis.

However, the director and four other defendants were cleared of involuntary manslaughter after a nine-month trial.

Sixteen prominent directors – including Francis Ford Coppola, Ron Howard, John Huston, George Lucas, Sidney Lumet and Billy Wilder – signed an open letter of support for the filmmaker.

However, Spielberg was not among them and in April 1983 he told the Los Angeles Times: “No movie is worth dying for. I think people are standing up much more now than ever before to producers and directors who ask too much. If something isn’t safe, it’s the right and responsibility of every actor or crew member to yell ‘Cut!’”

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The parents of Le and Chen pursued legal action and settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

Furthermore, in October 1984, the National Transportation Safety Board released its report on the accident, stating the “probable cause of the accident was the detonation of debris-laden high-temperature special effects explosions too near a low-flying helicopter leading to foreign object damage to one rotor blade and delamination due to heat to the other rotor blade, the separation of the helicopter’s tail rotor assembly, and the uncontrolled descent of the helicopter.

“The proximity of the helicopter (around 25 feet off the ground) to the special effects explosions was due to the failure to establish direct communications and coordination between the pilot, who was in command of the helicopter operation, and the film director, who was in charge of the filming operation.”

Moreover, it was found that the mere presence of the children on the set had been illegal as child labour law regulations prohibited children from working at such a late hour, let alone being in such close proximity to explosions or a helicopter.

Despite the tragedy, the film production proceeded, and it remains viewable to this day. Twilight Zone: The Movie was launched in June 1983.

YORK’S popular pop-up bar and ‘biggest beer garden’ are promising ‘a ton of surprises’ when they return ahead of summer.

Thor’s Tipis have become a regular part of York’s food and drink calendar, popping up at various venues across the city both in summer and at Christmas.

This year, there are some new surprises to look forward to, says Thor’s boss, York-based Amanda Monaghan.

Thor’s Tipi will open again in Parliament Street from Friday, May 22, while a sister pop-up will return to the grounds of York’s Milner hotel from May 9, billed as offering ‘York’s biggest beer garden’.

The bar inside Thor’s Tipi at Milner York last summer. Image NQ

Amanda said: “The Thor’s team are kicking off summer on Parliament Street, in serious style.”

She said new for 2026 at Parliament Street would be brand new dishes from Spud Shed – the latest venture from popular street food vendors Yuzu.

On the drinks menus will be a new range of spritzes, the ‘Dirty Dr Pepper’ cocktail, and the mega-pint.

Another new addition this year included ‘Themed Fridays’ where music from the same decade would be paired with matching cocktails.

Amanda said: “We’ll be doing different themes for music and cocktails on Themed Fridays, for instance serving up snowballs on a 1970s night.”

She added: “We can’t wait to be back in our spiritual home serving up new and exciting cocktails, live music, open mic events, comedy show, board games and more.”

Richard and Amanda Monaghan, the York couple behind Thor’s Tipis. Image: Anthony Chappel-Ross

One of the biggest changes fans and regulars will notice this year in Parliament Street will be the return of an old friend: “We’ve got a new-look tipi,” revealed Amanda, whose company Fabler, jointly owned with her husband Richard, not only runs Thor’s but also York bars Dusk and House of Trembling Madness.

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Thor’s has also sought planning permission for five years which Amanda says would be “more cost effective and saves time compared to putting in an application every year”.

Over at The Milner, the Thor’s team are gearing up to open up once again, running, what they call ‘York’s biggest beer garden’ in the spacious hotel grounds, bang next to York Railway Station.

FLASHBACK -Thor’s Tipi when it first appeared in Parliment Street. It now hopes to be a regular fixture in summer through to 2031. Picture David Harrison..

Opening on Saturday, May 9 at noon, the team say to look out for “new food, new drinks, new events and a ton of surprises to help you escape the everyday”.

Thor’s launched its first pop-up bar for York’s Christmas Market in 2015.

It now puts on three venues a year in York in Parliament Street, at The Milner and in Museum Gardens during the winter.

A tipi is set to open in Leeds City Square on Thursday, May 14.

For all the latest, visit: thorstipi.com

Shaun Murphy sees Zhao Xintong as the ‘best player on the planet’ but does not feel he necessarily creates a fear factor around the table.

The Magician and the Cyclone begin a mouth-watering World Snooker Championship quarter-final on Tuesday morning.

The Englishman edged past Fan Zhengyi in dramatic fashion in his opening round, before demolishing Xiao Guodong 13-3 in the last 16.

The defending champion has not produced many fireworks so far, but has done enough to down Liam Highfield and Ding Junhui to keep his hopes of breaking the Crucible curse alive.

Zhao came into the tournament as the form player on the planet, having won the World Grand Prix, Players Championship and Tour Championship since the start of February.

After some dominant victories over fellow top players in recent weeks, it looked like the world champion was developing a menacing presence at the table, forcing elite stars to go into their shell against him.

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However, Murphy is not so sure about that, saying physicality at the table comes into it and Zhao does not have the presence to instil fear into his opponent.

‘I don’t know about fear factor. He’s not an intimidating person off the table,’ said Murphy. ‘He doesn’t give that air of threat, which some players have.

‘There’s almost a physicality to some players where it transcends the table.

‘You feel like, hang on a minute. If it went off here, we could all be in trouble! Xintong doesn’t have that.

‘He just seems a genuinely, thoroughly nice kid. Who is super talented at snooker and at the minute, he’s the best player on the planet.’

While he might not be scary, Zhao can have an almost hypnotic quality, with Murphy saying you can be ‘mesmerised’ watching his seemingly calm, measured walk, while his average shot time is very low.

‘He’s very difficult obviously,’ Murphy told Midnite. ‘He’s the defending champion, the current world champion, and seems to win when he wants, but Zhao Xintong, for me at the moment, is just so easy on the eye to watch.

‘I love watching him play. He’s easy to get a bit mesmerised by, when you’re playing him, in all honesty; so in awe of just how easy he makes the game look. Yeah, wonderful player.’

Zhao has extended his winning run at the World Championship to 11 matches, but knows he is in for a big test against an in-form Murphy.

Asked if he is worried about what the Magician could pull out of his hat, he said: ‘Definitely worried! I know how good he is.

‘I know he’s a gentleman, long potting, everything is good. I’m in the quarter-final. I just try to enjoy it, not think about Shaun. Hopefully I can be better.’

Murphy’s Crucible triumph in 2005 came at a time when the young Zhao was just getting into snooker, watching the hugely important victory for Ding Junhui at the China Open that April on his eighth birthday.

‘If I haven’t forgotten, I think it was 2005,’ Zhao said of Murphy’s Sheffield glory. ‘I was eight years old. When I was eight years old, I saw him play with Ding many times and I know he’s a very good player. He can still play very good snooker.

‘I don’t know what will happen in the next round, but I will try my best.’

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Natalie Strange, 37, says she regained her confidence after losing weight

A woman divorced her husband after losing 10 stone using weight loss jabs and ‘regaining’ her self confidence. When Natalie Strange, 37, first met her husband, she thought he would be the man she would spend the rest of her life with.

But, after losing 10 stone with the help of jabs, she’s now back on the dating scene. Natalie, from Norwich, credits Mounjaro as a “saving grace” in getting her life back and finding the confidence she thought was long gone.

As a stay-at-home mum-of-three, Natalie found herself becoming a “shell” of her former self, and turned to food – racking up £250 a month on her takeaway “addiction”. It saw her weight shoot up to 19 stone, and she wore a UK dress size 22 at her heaviest.

“I had lost my self-worth and felt like I no longer had a purpose,” she said. “After having kids, I lost my confidence and just ended up going with the flow. Each day was monotonous and boring. I lost sight of who I was.

“It didn’t help that we had lost the spark between us, with time in the bedroom next-to-never.” In March 2024, she decided to try the weight loss medication, and lost 10 stone, dropping down to a size 10.

Natalie realised that – despite trying couple’s therapy – her relationship of 18 years wasn’t working. She said: “I had always gone into marriage thinking I’d be with that person forever. For me, divorce was off the table.

“So there’s that element of feeling like I’ve failed. And I do have that doubt of ruining my kids’ lives – though they love having two Christmases, two holidays; basically two of everything. Sometimes, I do wonder if I made a rash decision, but then we spend time together and I realise that isn’t the case at all.”

While she’s still going through divorce proceedings, that hasn’t stopped Natalie from getting back out there. She added: “I’ve joined dating apps. When I joined, at first, I had really low expectations of anybody being interested in a single mum-of-three.

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“But, without blowing my own horn, I was inundated with men that wanted to talk to me. It was a huge eye opener and such an ego boost. I went out with my friends for my birthday and let’s just say I’ve acted single on nights out ever since then.

“I feel great and so proud of myself for walking away from something that was no longer serving me. I’ve found myself again and that sense of adventure I was hungry for. The jabs have changed my life.

“I’d have never had the confidence and bravery to step out on my own without them. Using them has given me the validation I was searching for. Now, the world is a kinder place and I’m living the life I once dreamed of – happy and free.”

AS shoots burst their way through the soil and the days get warmer and brighter, you may have started to see amphibians making their way to their breeding habitats – hearing the chorus of frogs or spotting them hopping across our roads, or potentially even catching the occasional glimpse of a newt.

The arrival of our spring wildlife is a relief, and a welcome change from what has felt like the ever-grey and dark of winter.

However, that isn’t to say that we have been hibernating in the same way as our wildlife.

For the first time in over 25 years and after extensive planning and groundworks, winter saw the restoration of the main pond at Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s Askham Bog nature reserve to create the open water habitat which has steadily been lost from the reserve over the years.

Partnership projects with the Environment Agency led to new sustainable solutions to support farming, flood alleviation and wildlife activities at Carlton Marsh nature reserve in Selby; while in February, away from the prying eyes of the public in a hidden corner of Flamingo Land Resort near Pickering, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust hit a milestone – the 100th pond to be created or restored for great crested newts within the last five years.

Great crested newt. Photo by John Bridges

The process of restoring or creating a pond starts off with finding the right sites. Any groundworks must expand or strengthen existing great-crested newt populations based on historical records, finding a really good and firm clay base so a pond holds water naturally, and other factors such as finding places with reduced disturbance, away from invasive species, and not likely to be washed away by flood.

For restoring ponds, this needs to be done with the upmost sensitivity, at the correct time of year and with a considered and measured approach. We create detailed plans, bring in expert contractors to excavate the ponds, shape the ponds with shallow gradients and variable depths to maximise their value for wildlife – and then wait, for the rainwater to come naturally and for the ponds to recharge over winter ready to provide a home for newts and other wildlife in the next breeding season.

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Over the last five years, we have created or worked on over 16,000m2 of habitat – the equivalent of a single giant pond a third bigger again than Trafalgar Square! These new and improved ponds have helped to create a better-connected blue ‘corridor’ for amphibians thanks to funding from Natural England – and now, with the arrival of spring, we can really see these ponds come to life. Survey and monitoring is a key component of our work to measure success, and these too have seen change over time.

Monitoring historically involved long-established and licensable methods like bottle trapping, sweep netting, manually searching ponds at night with torches, and egg searches. Recent years have instead seen advancements in testing water to find environmental DNA (eDNA) – the animal’s skin cells, mucus, sperm, eggs and faeces left behind in ponds. Studies show that eDNA is 99.3per cent accurate in identifying the presence of great-crested newts, and this technique has become a key component of our protected species surveying work. It’s no mean feat; this year our team will be surveying an astonishing 77 ponds across the county, looking for the presence of great-crested newts.

Feeling inspired? Why not go exploring your nearest watery world and see what amphibian life you can spot – newts will be most visible at this time of year, although make sure you don’t disturb them!

Do you own land and want to help us create or restore ponds on it for wildlife? If you have space for a pond which is a minimum of 150m2, we’d love to hear from you. Email info@ywt.org.uk or visit www.yorkshirewt.org.uk/wildlife-pond-creation for more information.

John Thompson is the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s Wetland Creation Officer