A wildlife trust is seeking £54,000 to help buy fields near its nature reserve which it said could be sold to housing developers.

Durham Wildlife Trust needs to raise the money before October so it can buy the fields bordering the driveway to its Rainton Meadows reserve in Durham.

Emily Routledge, head of development and communications at the charity, said the trust had been trying to buy the land for years, but the landowner has only recently entertained its offer.