Tees Valley Biodiversity Partnership

If you fancy learning more about wildlife this year why not attend one of the day long wildlife workshops that is being organised by the Tees Valley Biodiversity Partnership and the Tees Valley Wildlife Trust. The programme has been organised to celebrate the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity.

Workshops subjects include waders and wildfowl, mammals, beginners guide to moths, umbellifer flowers, pond wildlife and dragonflies. Each workshop will provide an opportunity to develop your species identification skills and meet like minded people in a friendly small group setting.  There is also a workshop aimed at grandparents entitled  “Sharing the natural world with your family”

Download a brochure here

INCA and the Tees Valley Wildlife Trust are embarking on a project to conserve brownfield invertebrates in the Tees valley and help delivery of the Tees Valley Brownfields habitat action plan.

Brownfield sites are often rich in biodiversity and form an important refuge for wildlife. They are now included in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UKBAP) as the priority habitat titled ‘Open mosaic habitats on previously developed land’. In the Tees Valley, many brownfield sites contain areas which develop a semi-natural habitat supporting a diverse flora and fauna. Such sites have regional importance for many Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) species, including invertebrates.   A summary of the project can be downloaded here.

Buglife, the national trust for invertebrates also has a new  National Brownfield Stepping Stones Project, for which the Tees Valley is a key area.  The national project is looking at the brownfield resource in different regions of the UK ( including the Tees Valley ,South Essex, Peterborough, Stoke-on-Trent and Cornwall). Many species (eg bumble bees, butterflies and reptiles) are becoming dependant/reliant on such sites. The project aim is to identify the most valuable brownfield sites in these regions and attempt to provide habitat linkages (stepping stones) between sites to allow the movement of species, particularly invertebrates. The work will entail scoping surveys, species and habitat surveys and habitat enhancement and management works. Along with working with planners and developers to ensure brownfield sites of conservation important are properly considered and mitigated for in the planning and development process.  Buglife is currently in the process of applying to the SITA Enriching Nature Fund for a grant to carry out work in the Tees Valley.

The Teesmouth Bird Club is carrying out a survey of rookeries in the Tees Valley during 2010. They are inviting their members and members of the general public to take part and they anticipating will provide valuable insight into the current numbers and distribution in the Tees Valley.

Rooks generally nest in colonies containing tens or even hundreds of nests. Rookeries are usually located in tall trees within easy reach of foraging areas on arable farmland or permanent, preferably damp, grassland,

For more information download  the Teesmouth Bird Club Rookery survey here

The Tees Valley Biodiversity Partnership held their 2009 Annual Gathering on 9th September at the Teesmouth Field Centre, followed by a tour of Saltholme RSPB Reserve by Assistant Reserves Manager Toby Collett.

The meeting was kindly sponsored by the Tees Valley Joint Strategy Unit.

Below is the programme of the day and copies of PowerPoint presentations of some the speakers.

Programme

I love NI197

Jeremy Garside – Tees Valley Wildlife Trust

Securing a future for the lost meadows of eastern Cleveland
Helen Herring -  Wildflower Ark

From EYE to ERIC – Working towards a regional biological records centre
Naomi Hewitt  – EYE Project

Biodiversity – from regional policy to local delivery
Malcolm Steele – Joint Strategy Unit

Newts and recycling – An example of a risk management project in Redcar and Cleveland
Jo Fearey – Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council

Urban cowslips – a successful example of urban meadow creation  in Albert Park, Middlesbrough
Francine Marshall – Middlesbrough Council

Tees Valley Pondscape – following a summer of pond survey, pond creation and management sites are planned for this winter
Rachel Jackson – Tees Valley Wildlife Trust

If you enjoy being out and observing wildlife and want to improve your knowledge of wildlife then taking part on one of the free practical wildlife workshops offered at Margrove Park this autumn may be just up your street.

The Tees Valley Biodiversity Partnership with support from the Tees Valley Wildlife Trust and the EYE Project have put together an inspiring programme that includes monitoring and filming urban mammals, autumnal plant identification and birds for beginners. The hands on workshops held at Margrove Heritage Centre near Guisborough. These events are free and provide an opportunity to learn species identification skills and meet like minded people. The workshops are small and informal, led by local experts with plenty. There will also provide information on how to get involved with local, regional and national wildlife recording schemes.

Use the booking form to book or email your details to the address provided on the booking form.

Leaflet and booking form

STOP PRESS

Please note thet the mammals event has been postponed there are a few remaining places on the wildflower identication and there is a waiting list for the birds workshop.

An INCA (Industry and Nature Conservation Association) led project that seeks to restore and create habitats to conserve key invertebrates species that are associated with Tees Valley Brownfield Sites, has been given the green light by Entrust (the regulating body for landfill tax).

The two year project, funded by landfill tax will focus on brownfield habitats on land owned by environmentally aware local industries at BP Cats and Lucite and two Wildlife Trust Nature Reserves, Maze Park and Gravel Hole. Ecologists from INCA have started a programme of invertebrate surveys and monitoring (July 2009) ahead of the planned habitat enhancement work.

Brownfield sites are often rich in biodiversity and form an important refuge for wildlife in what can be an otherwise heavily urbanised industrial landscape.  They are now included in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UKBAP) as the priority habitat titled ‘Open mosaic habitats on previously developed land’.   In the Tees Valley, many brownfield sites contain areas which develop a semi-natural habitat supporting a diverse flora and fauna.  Such sites have regional importance for many Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) species, including invertebrates.

Robert Woods from INCA says “Invertebrates are very sensitive to changes in their environment and are therefore good indicators of the health and quality of their environment. Brownfield invertebrates are highly vulnerable due to habitat loss.  INCA is in the unique position of working with a number of organisations who own brownfield land of a good environmental quality”

The grant will allow restoration work that will include managing grassland by cutting vegetation to create a varied sward structure.  This will provide a mosaic of different habitat, supporting a wide range of invertebrate species.  Habitat creation will be achieved by mechanical stripping of the top layer of soil in parts of each of the four locations and creating ’scrapes’ which will be allowed to revegetate and colonise  naturally.  The ’spoil’ from this activity will be recycled on site to create raised or undulating areas alongside the scrapes, which will provide a varied aspect and structure.  Early successional habitats such as this, including patches of bare ground, are so important for many invertebrates. These actions will create habitat which will support viable populations of many specialised invertebrate species.

The proposal also includes an element of field survey work in 2009 and 2010, as it is important to understand the nature of the species which are present to ensure that planned physical work at the end of 2010 is consistent with that required for conservation of the specialised species found.  It is our intention also that we fine tune our management proposals depending upon what we find during site ecolological survey work.  Field survey also establishes a baseline against which any changes can be measured in the 2011 season which follows the restoration and enhancement work.

Tees Valley Biodiversity Coordinator Sue Antrobus says “ Learning from this brownfield invertebrate project could act as a pilot for work with other industrial land owners in the Tees Valley, thereby presenting exciting possibilities for the future conservation of brownfield sites, contributing to our Tees Valley Brownfields Habitat Action Plan.

INCA are the plan lead for the Tees Valley Brownfields Habitat Action Plan.

Link to Inca website
Link to brownfields action plan page

Ponds and aquatic wildlife throughout the Tees Valley will be receiving a boost by the Tees Valley Biodiversity Partnership. The partnership’s Tees Valley “Pondscape” initiative has just been awarded one hundred and two thousand pound from DEFRA’s Countdown 2010 fund toward a two hundred thousand project.

The project will address the loss and fragmentation of ponds in the rural, industrial and urban landscapes of the Tees Valley. Ponds will be rigorously mapped and surveyed to produce a pondscape picture of the Tees Valley. This will be used to strategically create ponds and carry out practical habitat management to ensure that ponds provide habitats for pond creatures such as frogs, toads and newts.

Ponds are now a UK priority habitat because they are vital for aquatic insects, birds and mammals but have been rapidly disappearing from our landscape. This has been mirrored in the Tees Valley with changes in farming practises resulting in the neglect of many farms and ponds being drained in urban areas to make way for developments.

Malcolm Steele of the Joint Strategy Unit and chairman of the Tees Valley Biodiversity Partnership says “This landscape scale project will be a real boost to the Tees Valley Biodiversity Action Plan. It will enable us to pinpoint where the best ponds for wildlife are in the Tees Valley and to focus efforts on creating and caring for ponds to ensure that generations to come have ponds that are thriving with wildlife”.

A summary of the Tees Valley Pondscape project plan can be downloaded here

tees-valley-pondscape-project-summary-061008

Local Sites (previously known as Sites of Nature Conservation Importance) are vital to conserving our biodiversity. This new page has been created as a reference point for Local Wildlife Sites. It includes the national framework, links to Defra resources and updates on what is happening on Local Wildlife Sites in the Tees Valley. Visit here

The Teesmouth Bird Club published the “Breeding Birds of Cleveland” in November 2008. This is the first comprehensive survey of breeding birds in the former county of Cleveland. An invaluable guide for all local naturalists and conservationist as well as anyone involved in biodiversity planning. Copies are on sale at the Guisboroughbookshop and Borders.

Read more at atlas-flyer

The purple milk vetch has recently been added to the list of priority species in the Tees Valley Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP). (more…)