The Natural Heritage Report

River Tees Rediscovered February 2014 Natural Heritage Report Introduction This report has been pulled together from information supplied by the Tees Valley Local Nature Partnership, with support from Wildflower Ark, as well as wider partner information to determine and support project elements for inclusion in River Tees Rediscovered. Introduction to Natural Heritage Natural heritage refers to the sum total of the elements of biodiversity, including flora and fauna and ecosystem types, together with associated geological structures and formations (geo-diversity). Heritage is that which is inherited from past generations, maintained in the present, and bestowed to future generations. Natural Heritage, as defined at the World Heritage Convention in 1971, is; ‘(1) “Inherited habitats, species, ecosystems, geology and landforms, including those in and under water, to which people attach value.” (2) "For the purpose of this Convention, the following shall be considered as "natural heritage": natural features consisting of physical and biological formations or groups of such formations, which are of outstanding universal value from the aesthetic or scientific point of view; geological and physiographical formations and precisely delineated areas which constitute the habitat of threatened species of animals and plants of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation; Natural sites or precisely delineated natural areas of outstanding universal value from the point view of science, conservation or natural beauty." (Source:http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/professional/advice/hpg/hpr-definitions/n/536373/) In the River Tees Rediscovered area, there are many heritage assets. A Heritage Asset comprises: ‘A building, monument, site, place, area or landscape identified as having a degree of significance meriting consideration in planning decisions, because of its heritage interest’. These include a wide variety of landscape area assets in each area. Landscape area assets are areas of land, which may include important animal habitats, or sites of geological importance, which, like heritage assets, are important to protect, maintain and preserve. Overview of the Natural Heritage The River Tees Rediscovered project follows the slow-moving meandering River Tees as it passes across the low-lying land from south of Darlington to Stockton, through the dense conurbation of Teesside and into the Tees Estuary. It includes open countryside and farmland (mainly arable farming with some pasture and a good network of hedgerows), urban settlements with heavy industry and Teesmouth, a mosaic of estuarine habitat mostly reclaimed over the last two centuries for industry but still containing large areas of estuary-related habitats such as mud flats, grazing marsh, sand dunes and wetlands along with Open Mosaic Habitat (formerly Brownfield sites) on previously industrial land. The area contains a good number of priority habitats and species both along the length of the river and especially within Teesmouth. Broadleaved mixed woodland is found in places on the steep-sided banks of the Tees in Darlington and Stockton and there is a cluster of lowland meadow sites around Middleton St George. Traditional orchards are scattered along the river Tees corridor with a concentration around Yarm and there is a cluster of priority ponds around Eaglescliffe and Bowesfield, at Portrack and in Teesmouth at Saltholme, Greatham Creek, Corus and Coatham. Remnants of saltmarsh are still also found along the banks of the old route of the River Tees. Teesmouth includes, at Seal Sands, one of the largest areas of intertidal mudflats on England’s north-east coastland, at Greatham Creek, the largest area of saltmarsh between Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve to the north and the Humber Estuary to the south. Teesmouth also has coastal sand dunes at North and South Gare, coastal and floodplain grazing marsh, reedbeds, fens and saline lagoons. Together these habitats give a complex of wetlands, estuarine and maritime sites known as Teesmouth Flats and Marshes an area of considerable importance for its flora, invertebrate fauna, and bird life with multiple international and national designations for its assemblages of waders and waterfowl including red knot, common redshank and sandwich tern. Teesmouth also contains Open Mosaic Habitat (OMH) on previously developed land; the majority of sites consisting of open mosaic grassland, often with a small amount of scrub. Important species found within these sites include grey partridge, skylark, brown hare, purple milk-vetch and a number of nationally notable moth species. OMH is also found on the banks of the river Tees at Maze Park and Portrack. There is a sizeable population of water voles at the RSPB Reserve at Saltholme and at Cowpen Marsh extending as far as Cowpen Bewley Woodland Park where there is a network of interconnecting ditches and other water bodies. Great crested newt is found around Darlington, Middleton St George and Eaglescliffe and at Cowpen Bewley. There is a breeding population of 70–80 harbour seals in the Tees estuary and populations of common lizard are found south of the river on the South Gare dunes. Otters are regularly recorded around the North Tees Marshes from Saltholme to Greatham Creek and have been reported in Seaton Channel and at the mouth of the River Tees. They are also found on the lower reaches of Billingham Beck and Claxton Beck. Brown hare is found in good numbers around the industrial sites and grazing marsh areas of Teesmouth. Dingy skipper and Grayling butterflies have some of their most significant regional populations on the Teesmouth industrial sites and at Maze Park and Tees Marshalling Yards. In addition to the over-wintering and passage waterfowl and wildfowl, Teesmouth is important for over-wintering mistle thrush and woodcock and also a large percentage of many breeding populations of bird species of key importance in the Lower Tees Valley such as lapwing, grasshopper warbler, reed bunting and skylark (listed as of red level of concern) and little tern, snipe, little grebe and whitethroat (listed as of amber level of concern). Nine of these species are also UK priority species. The Teesmouth area is one of the top five sites in the UK for breeding Common Tern. Lesser spotted woodpecker is found in deciduous woodland along the banks of the River Tees in Darlington and soprano pipistrelle bat occurs along the River Tees from the western boundary of Darlington to Middleton St George. Harvest mouse has been recorded within the Bowesfield Nature Reserve. A number of UK Priority fish species are found in the River Tees and its tributaries. Salmon is distributed throughout the Tees and is increasing in numbers (although still falling below the conservation limit set by the Tees Salmon Action Plan) whilst numbers of brown trout in the Tees have declined as a result of degraded and fragmented habitat, barriers to migration and pollution. Sea lamprey is present in the Tees (distribution unknown) and brook lamprey is present throughout the Tees and can be found in the Leven and Skerne tributaries. Dr Sue Antrobus, Tees Valley Wildlife Trust The Tees once abounded with many species of migratory and non-migratory fish. These included Burbot, a freshwater member of the cod family, sparling, a relation to the herring and the now-extinct European sturgeon. These latter were (and still are) crown property, a right that extended to the Bishops of Durham. However, this proved not to be such a privilege for Bishop Cosin, when upon being presented with 5 sturgeon caught from the Tees had then to buy 11 gallons of white wine and a further 16 of vinegar with which to pickle them at a princely sum of 5l 17s 1d. He grumblingly wrote to the fishkeeper of the Tees asking him to ‘send no more’ and added that he ‘needn’t have charged him for the dill and rosemary!’ The last Sturgeon known sturgeon captured in the Tees was in 1854 and was 7’5” long and weighed 8.5 stone and it was exhibited alive in Darlington. The presence of these monsters in the Tees could have given rise to mythical creatures such as the Sockburn Worm dragon and ‘Peg Powler’, a green haired witch of the water who would lure children to the edge and drag them to the depths. There are records of sturgeon taking swimmers, and their armour plating does resemble the scales often depicted on drawings of dragons. Drowning was a common occurrence in the Tees, and so the use of these myths was doubtless a good tool for parents to keep children from straying too far in. For centuries the Tees salmon provided a livelihood for many netsmen and an important food source for the local population. In 1854 Grimble wrote that the total number of fish taken in the salmon nets was 10 463 with a further 1456 being caught on rod and line along the Tees. This had led to many disputes between netsmen until 1455 when bylaws were introduced creating a 5s licence fee made payable to the local diocese. The biggest complaint from netsmen then was the proliferation of porpoises around Teesmouth! Pollution from the industrial Teesside and flushings from the lead mine ‘hushes’ in the Upper Teesdale workings rapidly destroyed the salmon fishery until in 1928, the Tees was declared ‘dead’ as a salmon river. This remained the case until 1983 until a pollution incident in Upper Teesdale resulted in a catastrophic fish kill over a 26 mile length of river. Amongst the dead fish were a small number of very large salmon, the discovery of which lent impetus to the groundswell of public support to clean up the river. The river’s salmon population is slowly recovering, but there is still much work to be done to improve habitat and migration opportunities for all species, not least the European eel, itself now on the IUCNs list of most at risk species.

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