Emma's on hand to offer a warm welcome at national nature reserve

A new face will welcome visitors to upper Teesdale’s national nature reserve this year. Reporter Stuart Laundy chats to Natural England warden Emma King

IT’S a freezing cold winter’s morning up at Cow Green reservoir. According to the car’s thermometer it’s -4C outside. It feels colder.
But with the sun breaking through and mist rising off the water, there is no place Emma King would rather be.
Ms King is the successor to Heather McCarty at the Natural England Moor House National Nature Reserve (NNR) in upper Teesdale.
Mrs McCarty and her husband Chris worked side-by-side at the reserve, clocking up 35 years of combined service before they retired last October, stepping down after receiving the North Pennines AONB Pendlebury award, which celebrates those who go above and beyond the call of duty to help look after the landscape.
Ms King had joined the NNR at Moor House a year earlier thanks to Natural England's Nurturing Nature Conservation Skills project.
The agency bagged £740,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to take on 99 recruits across the country to learn the essential techniques for looking after England’s most valuable landscapes.
Ms King was one of the 99 successful candidates and was posted to Moor House in November 2015.
Following Mrs McCarty’s retirement, Ms King has taken on split responsibilities as reserve manager for Moorhouse and also for the Teesmouth National Nature Reserve, which covers 350 hectares separated by Hartlepool Power Station.
“From the source to the mouth,” she says.
“When I first joined Moor House, it was a case of just learning all aspects of the reserve.
“Then I became reserve warden when Heather retired and I have taken over more of what she did – education, engagement, managing the volunteers and running the social media sites.”
Ms King does not come from a landscape conservation background – far from it, in fact.
She worked as a scenes of crime officer with North Yorkshire Police before moving to a post at force HQ. She has also worked as a registrar of marriages.
What unites them is people.
“I have always had people facing roles – I have always dealt with people,” she says.
“Part of the training placements at the nature reserves was to bring in new people who did not have a background in conservation.”
Much of the early part of this year has been spent preparing for the summer months.
At Cow Green, a new wind-up digital information device for tourists has been installed.
“We do the maintenance jobs to the fencing and boardwalks and jobs around the reserve base. We have been cutting back some of the diseased juniper and burning it. Much of what we do is largely weather dependant at this time of year.”
The programme of events for the spring and summer months has just been finalised. The first is in March, by which time, the temperature up at Cow Green should be a little more accommodating for the thousands of summer visitors attracted to the area.