For such an urban location the Tees Valley has a lot to offer for anyone interested in wildlife or nature, with Teesmouth National Nature reserve, North York Moors National Park, fourteen Tees Valley Nature Reserves, RSPB Saltholme and numerous Local Authority Countryside sites and parks. These provide a range of habitats from sand dunes to ponds to the River Tees and beyond. As a result, the number of species that can be found is a lot higher than you think.
One species that has become synonymous with the area is the seal; it even has an area named after it – Seal Sands. Seals had all but disappeared from the estuary by the 1930s, now with a population of over a 100 harbour seals and around 60 greys seals there is a good chance you will see one if you visit Greatham Creek, North and South Gare, Seal Sands Hide or the Tees Barrage, with numbers peaking in June and July. At Greatham Creek a number of seals haul out on to the mudflats and saltmarsh, with animals arriving 2-3 hours before low tide.
Other mammals can be seen at various sites across the Tees Valley including roe deer, hare and fox, the latter two often seen at RSPB Saltholme. Roe deer can be seen occasionally at Bowesfield and Coatham Marsh. You have to get up early to see the next mammal – otters have been sighted along the Tees, by the barrage, Portrack Marsh, Coatham Marsh and Bowesfield, as well as occasional sighting along some of the becks. The Middlesbrough Becks – Marton West Beck, Middle Beck, Ormesby Beck and Spencerbeck – can be a haven for wildlife and can be good spots to see the shy water vole, although quite often you hear a plop as this elusive mammal dives into the water.
Choosing which site to visit to see the best birds depends on the time of the year and the weather. The east coast can be at its best when the wind is coming from the east and when rarer birds can pop up almost anywhere. Hunt Cliff in Saltburn is good for breeding sea birds such as kittiwake, fulmar and cormorant. If you visit many of the beaches you can see sanderling and on rocky out crops, turnstone. Breeding little tern can be found on and off at sites such as South Gare, and more recently Seaton Carew. Arctic and common tern can also be seen, with a breeding population of common terns at Saltholme amongst pairs of black-headed gulls on the islands. Avocets have taken to nesting here since about 2016, they also nest on other sites in the area.
Teesside can be an excellent place to see waders and other birds throughout the year. In winter the Estuary is a nationally important area for wintering waders. The list is extensive but some of the species routinely found here include redshank, dunlin, sanderling, grey plover, golden plover, knot, curlew, lapwing, oystercatcher, ringed plover, cormorant, shag, red-throated diver, black-throated diver, eider duck, Common scoter, shelduck, guillemot, razorbill, turnstone, black-tailed godwit and bar-tailed godwit, red-breasted merganser, great crested grebe. Most winters great Northern diver, long-tailed duck, Slavonian grebe and red-necked grebe area found as well. Wintering geese tend to be low in number apart from on passage but include greylag, pink-footed, Canada and brent. The dunes also hold wintering twite, snow bunting and merlin with the occasional hen harrier as well.
Short-eared owl are seen most years and occasionally barn owl. Large numbers of fieldfare and redwing pass through each year. Spring and Autumn passage migrants regularly include Northern wheatear, whinchat, ring ouzel, pied flycatcher, spotted flycatcher, willow warbler, chiffchaff, common whitethroat, lesser whitethroat, yellow-browed warbler, barred warbler, Lapland bunting, Arctic skua, long-tailed skua, shearwater, Arctic tern and roseate tern, osprey, marsh harrier and rough-legged buzzard.
Many scarcer migrants turn up each year as well and in years past bluethroat and shorelark were regulars here. Additional species found on the marshes include snipe, stonechat, meadow pipit, reed bunting, grey heron, skylark, linnet, pied wagtail, little egret, teal, wigeon, Northern pintail, shoveler, mallard, kestrel, peregrine falcon and sparrowhawk. Large numbers of gulls and starlings roost on the marshes as well.
Summer breeding migrants also include swallow, swift, sand martin, house martin, whitethroat, willow warbler and cuckoo. Little, common and sandwich tern all breed in the area.
The Tees Valley has a range of habitats worth visiting, including its woodlands with typical woodland birds such great spotted woodpecker, bullfinch, tawny owl, nuthatch, marsh tit, blackcap and occasional spotted flycatcher. In coniferous woodland typical species such as goldcrest, coal tit, long-eared owl and crossbill and siskin can be found.
Many of the urban sites on Teesside still have relics of their industrial past, resulting in areas covered in characteristic steelworks slag materials, presumably originating from various steelworks. The resultant waste is lime-rich, low in nutrients and free-draining and its nearest natural equivalent would be chalk grasslands or base-rich sand dunes systems. Typically, they contain an abundance of flowers species including yellow wort, black medick, common centaury and bird’s-foot trefoil. These grasslands form an open sward with patches of bare ground and are also noted for supporting two species of butterfly that have suffered significant declines across Britain – the grayling and dingy skipper. With some sites like Maze Park Nature Reserve recording 16 species of butterfly. They also provide excellent habitat for bird species in national decline such as the grey partridge and skylark.
Discover more wild places, parks, beaches, nature reserves and much more in the Tees Valley Guide.