Tees Valley Biodiversity Partnership

We are planning a new Local Nature Partnership for the Tees Valley.
Local Nature Partnerships are a government initiative that seeks to involve all sectors of society in the natural world.   We aim to build a new partnership which will work strategically to conserve wildlife and improve the range of socio-economic benefits and services provided by a healthy natural environment.

What are Local Nature Partnerships?
The Natural Environment White Paper, launched by the Government in June 2011, recognised that partnership working is the best way to achieve effective action for the natural environment.  A key objective of this new approach is the formation of Local Nature Partnerships (LNPs), who will work strategically to conserve biodiversity and improve the range of socio-economic benefits and services provided by a healthy natural environment The functioning of the LNP will be influenced by local objectives; however, key roles will be;

•    Develop a shared environmental vision and local priorities to improve the social and economic benefits of the natural environment.
•    Engage communities and provide leadership, raising the awareness of the vital services and benefits that a healthy natural environment brings to people and the economy.
•    Co-ordinate action across organisations, resulting in the more efficient use of resources and better environmental outcomes.
•    Contribute towards building a green economy by forging strong links with Local Enterprise Partnerships

Here in the Tees Valley
We are building a new partnership in the Tees Valley which will work strategically to conserve wildlife and improve the range of socio-economic benefits and services provided by a healthy natural environment
To be successful, we need to involve people and make a make a difference. We’d like to find out what you want  a Tees Valley Nature partnership  to be and to do – the things that would make it a useful local nature partnership for people living and working in the Tees Valley.

Become part of the process by signing up to our communication blog and follow our progress and feed in your views and ideas.

We plan to do this through evolving existing partnerships and bringing in new ones.   We are working to achieve buy-in from a broad range of partners across the Tees Valley to create our vision a rich natural environment in which people can live, work and learn.
We have been successful in accessing a capacity building fund from Defra to develop our application to become a Local Nature Partnership in 2012.  We are applying the fund to support a number of existing environmental partnerships in the Tees Valley to work together and broaden their membership, vision and role to meet the objectives of a Local Nature Partnership. We will be building on the Success of the Tees Valley Biodiversity Partnership, incorporated the Tees Valley Environment Forum and linking up with local green infrastructure initiatives to ensure that we are all working together to delivered coordinated action for wildlife that makes a vital contribution to our wealth and wellbeing in the Tees Valley.
We are now engaging with potential stakeholders to everyone with the opportunity to get involved from the outset and help develop our vision, structure and work programme.  We want to broadening existing partnerships to include new sectors such as health, business, industry and community organisations.
To be successful, we need to involve people and make a make a difference. We’d like to find out what you want a Tees Valley Nature Partnership to be and to do – the things that would make it a useful local nature partnership for people living and working in the Tees Valley.

We have established a working group of the Tees Valley Biodiversity Partnership  to take our ideas forward.  Between now and June we will be focusing on the following outcomes
•    Make a formal application to government to be the Local Nature Partnership for the Tees Valley when the application opens in Spring 2012
•    Development of a shared, integrated environmental vision for the Tees Valley
•    Develop the structure of our LNP, engaging all potential partners to ensure a broad and relevant membership and remit
•    Develop communication and fundraising plan and a work programme for our LNP
•    Develop a   programme to deliver LNP objectives at the Parish and Community level to ensure social and economic benefits will be achieved and so that coordinated action will make the best use of available resources.
A new Tees Valley Nature Partnership  website is being launched soon. Watch this space!

The Tees Valley Biodiversity Partnership undertook a review of the priority habitats and species in 2011.  The priority habitats will remain the same with the addition of traditional orchards, which are a UK priority habitat.  The number of priority species has increased significantly to 51. This list is likely to be adapted over time as more knowledge is gained, especially on less well studied species. A table of these habitats and species can be downloaded here with an accompanying summary of the current picture on UK and England priority species and the future of biodiversity action plans.

Tees Valley priority habitats and species- updated 5 jan 2012 pdf

Click below to download the latest Tees Valley Biodiversity Partnership newsletter- for an update of local and national biodiversity news and infomation

TVBP e-news Dec 2011

Over 50 people gathered for the TVBP annual gathering was held on the 2 November at the Wildlife Discovery Centre at Saltholme. The three themes of the gathering were:

• Shaping the landscape- national context and local drivers
• Our Tees Valley Landscapes
• Reconnecting people and Landscapes in the Tees Valley

A programme of the day can be downloaded here Final Programme TVBP annual gathering Nov 2011

Presentations of the speakers can be downloaded

Jeremy Garside TVWT  Presentation
Stephen Catchpole TVU  Presentation
Adrian Vass Natural England  Presentaion
John Mann Teesside Environment Trust Presentation
Anne-Louise Orange Groundwork Presentation
Sue Antrobus TVBP Presentation
Deborah Jefferson and Jo Haskett Hartlepool Borough Council Presentation
Christine Corbett  Boro Becks   Presentation

On 3 July 2011 the TVBP held a wildlife workshop on the identification, ecology and management of the lowland meadows of the Tees Valley. This was led by Helen Herring of the Wildflower Ark. Here are a few photographs from the day.

Tees Valley Pondscape report and database CD published

The final report of the Tees Valley Pondscape project (2008-11) with ecological data sets is now available in a CD format from the Tees Valley Biodiversity Partnership. Ecological surveying and mapping carried out as part of the project has produced a large database of information that will of great interest to a wide range of people including land use planners, ecological consultants, naturalists and conservation practitioners.

To receive a copy contacts the TVBP coordinator.

Visit the Ponbdscape web pages

Local Nature Partnerships – a logical step forward for the Tees Valley Biodiversity Partnership

Local Nature Partnerships are one of the key proposals made in the Natural Environment White Paper. They will be strategic partnerships of organisations that work to create a shared vision for their area and deliver integrated, environmental outcomes. DEFRA are inviting applications for transition funding to help Local BAP groups and other local partnerships to widen their remit to develop a new integrated environmental vision and improve the natural environment in a collaborative way that reflects wider social and economic benefits. Local Nature Partnerships are anticipated to work closely with Local Enterprise Partnerships and the newly created Health and Wellbeing Partnerships.
What will Local Nature Partnerships do?

• demonstrate local leadership, raising awareness about the vital services and benefits which a healthy natural environment brings for people, communities and the local economy;
• use their knowledge and expertise to develop a shared environmental vision and set of priorities for their area (this could highlight how protection and enhancement of the natural environment can bring economic and social benefits or could include measures to establish and improve local ecological networks at a landscape scale);
• add value to a local area‘s development through contributing to local authority plans that affect the environment, as well as local plans and local development frameworks;
• help contribute to the Green Economy by, for example, providing relevant information for Local Enterprise Partnerships in development of their plans;
• bring together a range of local stakeholders, which may include people from local authorities, businesses, statutory authorities, civil society organisations, land managers, local record centres, local enterprise partnerships and people from communities themselves who can align efforts and make best use of available resources;
• co-operate with other partnerships where this results in more efficient use of resources and better outcomes. work at a landscape scale to improve the range of benefits and services we get from a healthy natural environment.

The TVBP is working on an application to become a Local Nature Partnership for the Tees Valley. The Tees Valley Biodiversity steering group met on the 12th June and decided that becoming a Local Nature Partnership for the Tees Valley was a positive, logical step forward as it is already carry out many of the functions proposed for Local Nature Partnerships. The TVBP will be submitting an application to meet the end of July deadline for transitional funding.
For more information contact the TVBP Coordinator

A copy of the TVBP e- newsletter (July 2011) can be downloaded here.
TVBP june 2011 final pdf

The newsletter is a quick and simple way to keep TVBP partners up to date with local, regional and national biodiversity news. If you wish to be added to the e-news circulation list please contact the TVBP coordinator.

Here is a copy of the 2010 annual report of the Tees Valley Biodiversity Partnership for you to download.
It summarises the key activities and achievements of the partnership during the year.
A small number of printed versions are available through the Tees Valley Biodiversity Coordinator on request.

TVBP annual report 2010 low res

Introduction
In 2010 the Tees Valley Biodiversity Partnership (TVBP) commissioned the Wildflower Ark to carry out a survey of fen habitat in the Tees Valley (Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Stockton and Redcar and Cleveland). The project was funded by Natural England for the following purposes;
• To identify and map the extent of NVC fen/wetland habitat on Local sites
• To provide habitat data captured on GIS to an appropriate standard to allow it to be incorporated into Natural England’ updates of the Habitat Inventories.

The project was completed in 2010. The data is held by the Wildflower Ark and Natural England. Below is a summary provided by Martin Allen of the Wildflower Ark.

The survey
A total of 13 different sites of herb-rich fens and bogs in the Lower Tees Valley were surveyed in summer/autumn 2010 by the Wildflower Ark.  Each site was split into different plant communities (according to the National Vegetation Classification (NVC); M (mire) and S (swamp) communities only) and then every plant and moss was identified in a series of 2m by 2m squares chosen within the community. A list was made of all the plants and mosses in the community and their relative abundance. The sites were chosen from the Local Wildlife Sites list.

Results
There was a total of 10.35 ha of fen, swamp, or bog plant communities – the largest being 2.5 ha and the smallest 0.02 ha. Of the 25 separate plant communities surveyed, 17 were less than 0.5 ha. Of the 16 different communities found, the most common was M22 Blunt-flowered Rush and Marsh Thistle fen-meadow. This was also the most species-rich community, commonly having over 40 species present and was generally found on a sloping site kept moist by a spring. Next most common was M27 Meadowsweet-Wild Angelica mire which is characteristic of damp ungrazed areas on fairly nutrient-rich soil. Other NVC communities were S6, S10, S11c, S27b, S28, M5/M23, M6, M23; sometimes it was difficult to easily assign a plant community to the published accounts as some of the species were atypical. This was particularly the case with Sharp-flowered Rush replacing the absent Blunt-flowered Rush within most of the M22 communities.

Comment
Owing to the small scale of the majority of the fens and their fragmented distribution across the local landscape, there are two pressing concerns for the future of fen sites in our area; one is the effect of increasing amounts of fertiliser getting into the marshes either through more nutrient-rich water entering the system via a spring/runoff from surrounding arable land, or simply as pollution from the rain (around 10 – 15 kg Nitrogen per hectare per year at present). More nutrients enable the larger, more robust wildflowers to grow and shade out the smaller ones. Although the effect of nutrients was only clearly damaging one site (and some mitigation had been undertaken) and only another two sites looked as if they could be deteriorating slightly, once nutrients are added to the system they are very difficult to remove.
The second is how the sites are managed. This is particularly a problem with the grazing fen communities (M22) which require regular grazing to maintain the presence of many of their smaller wildflowers. Some sites are small and either not forming a useful economic part of the present farm or are simply isolated units of land no longer part of a farm. Nutrient-rich ungrazed sites tend to favour larger more vigorous wildflowers, the smaller plants being shaded out. Half of the ten M22 stands were grazed and in good condition. Ungrazed stands can develop into M27 communities which tend to be less species-rich.
One community has changed over the last 20 years from M10 to M22 with sadly the loss of Bird’s-eye Primrose at its only site within the area, although a few mosses and sedges still remain from the M10 community.

Notable plants for the Lower Tees Valley
Two new populations of Tufted-sedge (rare in the north-east) were found near Darlington, along with Tubular Water-dropwort and Skullcap both not present in the old Cleveland area. Two sites north of Wynyard had present Blunt-flowered Rush, a predominantly southern species which was thought not to grow within the old Cleveland boundary. Other plants noted that are rare in our area were Marsh Speedwell, Water-violet, and the acid bog-plant Round-leaved Sundew.  Most sites had some of the scarce Marsh Valerian, Bogbean, or Marsh Cinquefoil.