Tees Valley Biodiversity Partnership

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

Defra are updating this page on their website on a regular basis, so if you are involved with Local Wildlife Sites you may wish to bookmark the link.

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

The North East Biodiversity Partnership has been developing a way forward for a much needed biological records centre to support biodiversity conservation in the region.  The Tees Valley Biodiversity Partnership is represented on a working group to develop the project.

Download their information sheet here

eric-information-sheet-

Buglife, the invertebrate chairity have produced a series of practical guides on managing habitats for invertebrates. There is an advice sheet for each Uk BAP habitat. For more detail visit their website here

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