WHEN the Romans started building Hadrian’s Wall in 122 AD, little did they know that in 2020, people would be locked in their houses but still able to walk along what is left of its 80 Roman mile length.

For Northumberland Wildlife Trust trustee Ian Jackson, who lives near Bardon Mill, has been enthralling wildlife lovers during lockdown with his virtual tours of Hadrian’s Wall and other parts of the north of England via YouTube.

Ian, who leads natural history walks in the north of England, combined his lifelong interest in the wall forged during school history and Latin trips with a desire to help people during the lockdown affected by the ban on hiking, by creating the virtual wall tour.

The special character of the Hadrian’s Wall landscape is the ridges and troughs that can be seen so well when driving along the Military Road.

The hardest of all the rocks is the Whin Sill which is world famous amongst geologists and the home of extremely rare grasslands which Northumberland Wildlife Trust works tirelessly to preserve.

Ian hopes that once people are out of lockdown, they should visit the Wall to experience its outstanding natural landscape but, in the meantime, sit back, and experience the true wonderment of this world heritage site.

He worked for the British Geological survey for 38 years, including 17 years in Cumbria and Northumberland, before leading national, European and global projects to make geoscience data digital.

To take a virtual tour of the Wall readers can visit: https://youtu.be/pPRubmUJ8kU.