YOUNGSTERS can get a close-up view of pondlife in Weardale this weekend.

Tadpoles and other creatures will feature in pond ecology workshops at Killhope Lead Mining Museum.

Dr Alan Donaldson, an ecologist and explorer from Allenheads, will host the workshops on Sunday and Monday.

Dr Donaldson said: "The reservoirs at Killhope are teeming with a variety of species, and youngsters will have a great time finding out what is there and learning how to safely take samples.''

The children will use nets to scoop a catch, identify it and return it to the water.

The pond adventure is not the only activity on offer at the museum at the weekend.

Visitors can also monitor squirrels as well as birds in a bird box workshop on Sunday.

Killhope has a thriving red squirrel colony and workshop leader Phil Curtis will talk about the wild animals and variety of birds in the surrounding woodlands.

Throughout Sunday and Monday there is also a wood sculpture workshop where visitors can forage through the woods for materials and create their own sculpture.

The museum hopes to put the pieces on display in an outside gallery.