A WILDLIFE charity has launched a project designed to take the wonders of the region’s moors into the classroom.

Durham Wildlife Trust’s Living Uplands scheme project offers primary schools a free education pack that encourages young people to take a closer look at bird and plant life on the county’s uplands.

Kirtsy Pollard, of the trust, said: “The Living Uplands project links to Key Stage 1 and 2 on the primary school curriculum and is an effective way to enhance science and literacy skills, and to promote pupils’ creativity and confidence.

“Using everything from pictures and videos to blogs, the project provides children and teachers with a window into the upland moorlands to see birdlife at first hand.

“We look forward to exploring the Living Uplands with our region’s young people.”

Included in the pack, which can be used across all aspects of the curriculum, is information on the Black Grouse, one of the area’s rarest birds.

Black Grouse, the sixth most endangered bird in the UK, have declined in many parts of the United Kingdom but significant populations survive in the North Pennines, including the Durham moors, upland areas of Wales and most of Scotland.

The pack includes information on the birds’ breeding grounds where in the spring the males gather to display for the females while uttering a distinctive ‘bubbling’ mating call in a ritual known as a lek.

For more information and resources visit livinguplands.com or teachers can call the trust on 0191-5843112.