I DID voluntary work at Aykley Wood Nature Reserve for 11 years and I can’t understand why Durham County Council are going to make one of the fields there into common land.

This field has been fenced off for years to allow ground nesting birds to use it undisturbed by the public.

Not only that but it’s close to the ponds where great crested newts breed and they will live in this field once they move out of the ponds in the summer.

The great crested newt is protected by law and if their habitat is disturbed it can result in an unlimited fine and or up to six months in prison.

Durham county ecologists think not many people will use this field once it’s opened up to the public, but one person is one person too many in a field of ground nesting birds when there is no reason at all to open it to the public.

This is a nature reserve and the council should have a duty to look after the wildlife, not destroy it.

Billy Mollon, Framwellgate Moor