Half-term bird-themed events will be on offer for youngsters from Northumberland Wildlife Trust.

The free events are being run through the SENSE Project. A Feed the Birds Event takes place on February 16, between 1pm and 3pm at Plessey Woods; there will be bird watching at Holywell Pond Reserve on February 17, between 10.30am and 12.30pm; and on February 18, between 1pm and 3pm, at East Cramlington Local Nature Reserve, children will be able to make bird feeders and take part in feathery quizzes and challenges.

Call Laura Lowther on 0191 284 6884.

A row has blown up after a council used money intended to help jobs blackspots to fund a horse show.

Blyth Valley Labour MP Ronnie Campbell (pictured) branded the summer event 'a weekend out for toffs'.

He strongly criticised Northumberland County Council - which is in the midst of making budget cuts totalling £40m over two years - for earmarking £80,000 to stage the high-profile equestrian event.

Jerry Harrison's picture shows the sea crashing against the Seaton Sluice harbour entrance, taken on the last day of January. The photo was added to our Northumberland group on the photo-sharing website Flickr.

Send your images to northumberland@ncjmedia.co.uk or join the Flickr group to share them on this site.

A government minister came under fire from one of her own MPs yesterday for strongly defending the radical shake-up of town halls in Northumberland.

Rosie Winterton says she is confident that local government in Northumberland is "much better placed" under unitary status than it would have been if the old two-tier system of a county and six district councils had remained.

Her comments come in the wake of the newly-established unitary council having to make £26m in budget cuts last year and planning £20m worth of savings this year, with more pain forecast to come in 2011/12.

Parking fees levied on drivers visiting Northumberland towns has emerged as the hottest topic in the initial stages of a major review aimed at developing a county-wide parking strategy.

A progress report on the review reveals hundreds of people have made their views known on whether parking fees should be imposed across the whole county - rather than just in selected towns.

More than 560 people have signed three separate petitions calling for an equal policy across the board, with charges being made in all principal towns.

Families in Northumberland have been spared a 25% increase in the cost of having their garden waste collected this year following a revolt by opposition county councillors.

It was planned to put up the annual charge for the service from £20 to £25 in March - to bring in an extra £60,000 and help the county council achieve tough budget savings.

Now the saving will have to be found elsewhere after Conservative and Labour councillors joined forces to defeat the move at a meeting in County Hall on Wednesday.

There's something, ahem, fishy going on along the North East coast.

Scores of these ferocious- looking fish have been found flapping around on the region's beaches with no apparent explanation.

Fishermen have been left puzzled, schoolchildren think they're finding piranhas and experts in marine life are fascinated.

A political row is brewing over alleged 'empire building' amid moves to set up a formal federation of new grass roots councils in south east Northumberland.

The eight parish and town councils were established last summer to boost local democracy following the abolition of Blyth Valley and Wansbeck district councils, and the creation of a single unitary authority for Northumberland.

Now it is being suggested that the councils - covering Blyth, Ashington, Newbiggin, Cramlington, Seaton Valley and Bedlington North, East and West - should form an official federation with a joint managing board.

People living in Seaton Valley will be funding allotments and lighting, through their council tax this year.

Seaton Valley Council has increased its precept after setting its budget for 2010-11 at £79,422.

It means a slight increase in what the council is asking for as its share of council tax, compared to the current year. However, it will mean that a Band A property will still only pay approximately £11 during 2010-11.

A veteran Labour MP has accused council bosses in Northumberland of seeking the easy way out by targeting elderly and disabled people when making tough budget cuts.

Blyth Valley MP Ronnie Campbell is writing to Liberal Democrat leaders at County Hall and asking them to "stop hitting" the elderly population of the county.

He says the recent announcement the council is axing a scheme which provides cut-price taxi travel for hundreds of pensioners who are unable to use buses is the latest in a damaging series of cost-cutting measures affecting older people.