December 2006
A recent planning application has highlighted the importance and vulnerability of the line of trees above Kings Avenue, Northbourne Avenue and Olympia Hill.
This treescape looks like scrubby woodland but it defines the view north from the centre of Morpeth creating a seasonally changing screen – and is also an essential part of the Cotting Burn network of wildlife corridors.
The trees are mainly protected by the old 'Northlands' TPO 1972 so managed by the County Council. Red squirrels are known to be present in those wooded areas stretching from West Cottingwood across the North of Kings Ave to Northlands.
West Cottingwood at the top of Cottingwood Lane 400m to the NW, is the ancient woodland remnant of the (probably) much bigger 'Cottingwood' that probably covered much of this area in William Turner's time. The woodland is not shown as 'Ancient Woodland' on the OS maps, but could still be a remnant as the Ancient Woodland register only lists sites over 2ha I think. There are some very big and splendid trees there.
