Download a brochure from www.teesvalleybiodiversity.org.uk to view the available events and to obtain a booking form.   Book early,  as events will fill up quickly.

Also planned by the Tees Valley Wildlife Trust is a Wildlife Gardening Open Day on Sunday 25th April at Margrove Park near Guisborough.   Further details are available at www.teeswildlife.org

Flower-rich grassland on a typical brownfield site

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.  The aim of the project is to restore and enhance four brownfield sites across the Tees Valley, including land on two industrial sites at Lucite and BP CATS and two nature reserves managed by the Tees Valley Wildlife Trust (Gravel Hole and Maze Park).   Each of these locations has a substrate comprising of a unique limestone slag, which has a high value to many aspects of biodiversity.  Restoration work proposed 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 take place through the winter of 2010 and 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.

Learning from this brownfield invertebrate project will also act as a pilot for future conservation projects relating to  brownfield sites in this area and beyond.  More information can be obtained from INCA (Robert Woods) or the Tees Valley Wildlife Trust (Sue Antrobus).

These pups had been nursed back to health by staff at the Scarborough Sea Life Centre after being found in a very poor state of health on the Yorkshire coast during August.   It is not unusual for newly weaned pups to struggle in the wild.  If they do not manage to find enough food they soon become weak and eventually end up stranded on the coast often having also succumbed to disease and parasites.

Thankfully, these feisty youngsters were rescued and are now in good health.  Although initially wary of going back into the wild after their 3 months in captivity they soon took to the water to join the other Harbour Seals which already live in the Tees estuary.

The seal release which was co-ordinated by the Industry Nature Conservation Association (INCA) and supported by Natural England, ConocoPhillips and PD Ports.

In terms of adult seals, the news is more positive, with the maximum number of each species seen at low tide at Teesmouth being 70 for Harbour Seal and 25 for our non-breeding species, the Grey Seal, both observed on the 9th of September. The Harbour Seal maximum compares favourably with previous years, being only one less than the 2002 peak, while the Grey Seal is slightly lower (better than  2007 & 2008, but lower than the 2005 peak of 31).