Tees Valley Nature Partnership

This summer the Nature Partnership had the support of Josh Fawcett, Geography undergraduate from University College London who volunteered his time and energy to work on the Biodiversity Opportunity Area (BOA) mapping project.

“I thoroughly enjoyed my time and found it very relevant to my studies. Allowing me to apply knowledge learnt at university into a real working environment… (it)  has inspired me to delve into the possibilities of a  career relating to nature conservation work. The experience which I gained has proved invaluable.” Josh Fawcett

His hard work and diligence has enabled us to map and describe BOAs within ‘East Cleveland’ and ‘Middlesbrough Beck Valleys’ landscape areas. These areas should be completed this year with Teesmouth and the River Tees Corridor to follow.

Thanks Josh, we hope we attract an undergraduate volunteer next summer of such high calibre! If you or anyone you know would be interested in a future placement please do contact us

This year we teamed up with ‘Your Tees Catchment Partnership’ to host a joint ‘partnerships’ event. We held it at Preston Park Museum and over 90 people attended the day. The event was a mixture of presentations, varied workshops, networking, yummy food (the cream scones are particularly good) and even a spot of Tai Chi and meditation! It was such a success we are hosting another joint conference next year! All the varied presentations from the day can be found on the Conference 2017 page of this website. For a full report on the day read the article in Wild Tees article 7-2017

There is a growing body of evidence for the value of nature to our health and well-being. Natural England have produced a series of evidence briefings you can find on this site TVNP Natural health & well-being. Their latest study engages local authorities and health commissioners to identify best practice in a range of social prescribing services referring people to nature-based (green care) interventions in light of:

The NHS ambitions to focus on individual and community involvement in healthcare.
The shift to more local delivery of health and care services.
The under-utilisation of existing green care services. And
The vast potential to increase the scale of green care provision.

Options for improving the commissioning of, and referral to, these services as well as scaling-up the provision of nature-based interventions are explored.

Welcome back for the 2017 competition!

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A new asset to help protect and plan for nature is now available. The Natural Networks & Opportunity maps show ecological and geological data with corresponding descriptions and information across the 5 boroughs that make up the Tees Valley. The information can be viewed at teesvalleynaturepartnership.org.uk/resources/natural-networks-opportunity-maps/

Jeremy Garside, Chief Executive of the Tees Valley Wildlife Trust welcomes participants to the TVNP 2016 Moving Forward Event. There was a real buzz at the event and enthusiam for the partnership. Participants from a wide range of organisations attended incuding; all the Tees Valley Local Authorities, Environment Agency, Heritage Lottery Fund, Groundwork, Natural England, RSPB, Teeside University, CPRE, Northumbrain Water, Tees Rivers Trust, Forestry Commission, Tees Valley Local Access Forum, Tees Valley Rural Community Council, Teesmouth Bird Club, Cleveland Naturalists Association and Tees Valley Wildlife Trust. Lots of great ideas were generated so watch this space…

30th June 2016 the Partners are reconvening to make plans to take the Partnership forward from here. It’s an exciting time so watch this space for the outcomes, in the meantime do get in touch if you have any queries.

Here is the agenda TVNP Review Workshop & Planning & Nature agendas 30-6-16

We are pleased to annonce a new Partnership Officer to manage the Tees Valley Nature Partnership. Rachel Murtagh (nee Wood) came on board a month ago and is keen to re-invigorate this vital initative. Keep following the website for future devlopments…

SPECIES OF CONSERVATION CONCERN AND LOCAL SIGNIFICANCE IN THE TEES VALLEY – an invaluable source of up todate information.

This report has been prepared by Vic Fairbrother for the Conservation Sub-Committee of Teesmouth Bird Club (TBC), with input by TVWT and RSPB. TBC has been monitoring the birds of Teesmouth since 1960 and is widely recognized as the foremost authority on the birds of the former County of Cleveland and has a particularly good knowledge of the birds of the Tees estuary. The Club publishes the annual ‘Cleveland Bird Report’, which is the definitive record of local birds.  In 2008, TBC published ‘The Breeding Birds of Cleveland’, the first comprehensive survey of local breeding birds, bringing together current and historic data and including descriptions of all the key habitats.

Members undertake monthly counts at local wetland sites from September to March for inclusion in the annual UK Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) organized by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) in association with the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust (WWT).  Members survey local randomly allocated 1km squares for the annual Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) organized by the BTO and jointly funded by BTO, JNCC and RSPB. This is the main scheme for monitoring the population changes of the UK’s common and widespread birds.  The TBC Records sub-committee collates and validates all local records of rare breeding records for submission to The Rare Birds Breeding Panel (RBBP) which publishes the Rare Breeding Birds in the UK annual report

Species of Conservation Concern in the Tees Valley – Oct. 2014. VF.

Members provide vital information on the migration, passage and survival of birds through the work of the South Cleveland Ringing Group and the Tees Ringing Group. This includes ringing pulli (young in the nest), catching birds at Constant effort sites (CES) and Ringing adults for survival sites (RAS) all contributing to major national monitoring schemes organized by the BTO.  Members provide vital information on the productivity of birds by submitting records to the Nest Record Scheme.  In July 2011 members completed timed surveys in 116 tetrads (2×2 km squares) following 4 years fieldwork for the local input to the next UK Atlas (Bird Atlas 2007-11). This was in addition to submitting tens of thousands of roving records.

Sources on the level of concern, changing status and population trends for each species are listed in the table below.

This report is intended to act as a ‘signpost’ for planners, ecologists, developers, consultants and other land-based professions to a critical list of species of conservation concern in the Tees Valley.  The Teesmouth Bird Club holds specific details of where these species are located and can provide quantitative and qualitative information.  The point of contact for further information is: Vic Fairbrother, 8 Whitby Avenue, Guisborough, TS14 7AP  (Tel: 01287 633744; email: [email protected])