CAMPAIGNERS have donned bird costumes to protest at a planned free range duck and poultry farm.

The application, before Derwentside District Council, aims to site about 500 birds in four containers, in a fenced off area within a mature birch wood, south-east of Ragpath Bank, near Lanchester.

Environmental group Friends of the Earth fears that, if allowed to go ahead, it would ruin a wildlife wood and lead to pollution of the nearby River Browney.

Don Kent, Derwent Valley and North Durham Friends of the Earth group co-ordinator, said: "Effectively this would trash the wood, damage its wildlife, and lead to run-off into the river from the birds."

The proposals also include a residential caravan on the site, which campaigners say could lead to permanent housing in the future.

But planners at Derwentside District Council have consulted with the Environment Agency and have no objections to the application.

Chief planning officer Simon le Jeune said: "As far as we have been told, there is no real danger of run-off into the Browney.

"The site would be fenced off, so the birds would not be roaming all over the wood.

"But Durham Wildlife Trust and English Nature have raised concerns over conservation issues and we are waiting for more information from them before we proceed."

Lanchester farmer Ian Nattress said: "If they allow this sort of development in upland woods, it will decimate the area."

Retired ecologist Gerry White, of Iveston, said: "This wood is part of our heritage and is seriously threatened by this kind of development."