Blogs

On 11th September, two spoonbills dropped in at Back Saltholme Pool, right in front of where work on the new Saltholme Pools hide has just started...demonstrating that there will be some stunning bird watching to be had from it when finished! The spoonbills moved off later in the day to nearby Dormans Pool but haven't been seen this week.

We're over the moon that our bid for a grant of £268,500 from the Heritage Lottery Fund has been successful.  This money will help to cover the cost of our education and community work in the early years after opening. We are very grateful to the lovely people at the HLF for their further funding support for Saltholme.  It was a double celebration this week with the news that we have been able to acquire our first extension to the reserve by completing the purchase of 10ha of saltmarsh north of the main site.  The fizzy wine was flowing back at base to celebrate this fantastic news!

A brood of four newly hatched pochard ducklings were saved this week by Project Manager, Kevin, who found them attempting to cross the busy A178. Kevin lifted the fluffy ducklings up from the curb edge that they were attempting to climb, responding from calls from their mother who had successfully made it to the central reservation. They were safely escorted to a nearby pool and reunited with their mother. This was an unusually late brood and brings the total numbers of this rare breeding duck to four pairs this year. Other records of interest this week from the reserve were 16 black-tailed godwits, a curlew sandpiper and two little egrets.

There's never a dull moment at Saltholme at the moment

Last week we were delighted that the MP for Stockton North, Frank Cook, hosted a briefing for civic leaders and business representatives in Stockton to celebrate the progress made so far at Saltholme.  Frank spoke with passion about the project, and we're really pleased to have his keen interest and support.  The event was very enjoyable and it was great to be able to meet up with lots of our supporters and take the opportunity to thank them for all their help so far.

We were also delighted to meet the Mayor of Stockton, who kindly took time out from civic duties to come along.

On the day, we marked another milestone for the Saltholme project when Karen Rothwell of the RSPB and David Kitchen of the Teesside Environmental Trust signed a lease between our organisations that will legally unite the partners for the next century.

David Kitchen summed up the importance of this step when he said: “The signing of the lease with the RSPB may just be names on a piece of paper, but it symbolises the long term future for Saltholme.  Whilst most of us will not be around to see the end of the lease, it makes me proud to think that we are providing a fantastic asset for future generations."

After almost ten years of patient planning behind the scenes, to see the project materializing before us on the ground is an absolute thrill. 

Following the briefing session and lease signing ceremony, there was an opportunity to show some of our guests around the (construction) site, where work is progressing well.

Despite the very wet weather during July, the 420 pairs of common terns nesting at Saltholme have done particularly well.  This is the largest mainland colony in north east England and by the end of the month there were many young birds taking their maiden flights.

Also apparently little affected by the wet weather have been snipe.  In fact the wet summer has probably benefited them, making it easier for the them to probe for food in the wet earth.  Snipe were still displaying throughout the early part of July. Yellow wagtails have been seen feeding young around the pools and great crested grebes bred on Paddy’s pool for the first time.

Since filling the main pool with water, a pair of great crested grebes has been prospecting and courtship `dancing`.  This bodes well for next year’s breeding season.  When it is built, our new Wild Bird Discovery Centre will overlook this lake.  Construction work has now started in earnest and there is lots of machinery arriving and plenty of work already underway.

Both cuckoo and grasshopper warbler have been more numerous this summer than last as have stonechats, which bred at Saltholme this year.

Construction of fabulous Saltholme's ‘Wild Bird Discovery Centre’ is now underway.  Kate Humble, co-presenter of BBC Springwatch and newly appointed Vice-President of the RSPB, helped us get the building work started. Kate visited the site and took the controls of a JCB to perform the traditional ground-breaking ceremony for us.  She also took time to chat to pupils and staff from nearby High Clarence Primary School along with representatives of the project’s funders and supporters.

The £4 million programme of works is being undertaken by North East based construction company, Lumsden and Carroll Construction, and is likely to be underway for almost a year.  At the end of it, the site will have been transformed from derelict brownfield into the RSPB’s largest visitor, education and community centre, complete with iconic, lakeside building designed by architects Jane Darbyshire and David Kendall Ltd.

We are working in partnership with the Teesside Environmental Trust (TET) to develop Saltholme and everyone involved is thrilled that work is now underway.  David Kitchen, Chair of the Teesside Environmental Trust said: “The development of Saltholme, is only possible due to tremendous financial support from ERDF European funds via the Government Office of the North East; Single Programme Fund via One NorthEast and the Tees Valley Partnership; Biffaward; Northern Rock Foundation; the Shears Foundation, Stockton Borough Council; SITA Trust; County Durham Environment Trust and Premiere Waste; and Augean Plc. The Trust and the RSPB would like to take this opportunity to publicly express our grateful thanks to all of our supporters.”

May got off to a great start with common terns arriving back over the Saltholme pools from their winter holidays off the coast of Africa. The work preparing the two breeding islands had been well worthwhile. Also on cue were the first lapwing chicks that hatched in early May in our specially managed grassland area.

Great-crested grebes and little grebes have firmly taken up home on most of the pools with six and ten pairs, respectively, across the reserve.  A number of immature little gulls have again taken up residence around the pools, but a lot of other bird migration had been slow this year. This particularly so with spring passage waders, which were conspicuous by their absence. Not until the middle of the month did birds start passing through in their usual numbers. Spotted redshank, greenshank, wood sandpiper, black-tailed godwit, curlew sandpiper and a pectoral sandpiper all moved through the reserve mid-month, as did large numbers of wheatears.

The water pumped onto our specially designed wet grassland areas from the new pipeline has really provided a breath of life to the grassland which, after one of the driest Aprils on record, was beginning to dry out. Redshanks, snipe, lapwings, shovelers and yellow wagtails are just some of the species that are enjoying the rejuvenated wetlands.

A spoonbill stopped off briefly towards the end of the month and an avocet stayed with us for a few days.  A number of marsh harriers passed through and a drake long-tailed duck made the pools his temporary home.

Temminck's and little stints were present around the pools edges at the end of the month.  At the end of the month, the arrival of a broad-billed sandpiper (a diminutive, relative of the dunlin that breeds in Arctic Scandinavia) drew appreciative birders to Saltholme.  It’s still around today. 

So, May has turned out to be another cracking month here at Saltholme and the exciting variety of wildlife is another reminder of the fantastic range of wildlife that the Tees Valley attracts.  There really is going to be something to appeal to everyone here at Saltholme once we’re fully open to visitors next year.

Next time we’ll up-date you on the latest activity that’s been going on ‘behind the scenes’ in the creation of Saltholme.

Water that might otherwise not have been utilised is now helping to bring life to Saltholme

With early spring one of the driest on record, some of the newly created wetland habitats at Saltholme were looking more like a desert than a haven for wildlife.  Meadows designed to attract breeding birds were unseasonably dry, and the lake was more of a pool! Wetland-loving birds such as lapwing and snipe were showing little signs of wanting to nest in the dry conditions.

However, thanks to some nifty lateral thinking, we have teamed up with local industry to bring Saltholme’s silver meadows back to life and the site is now alive with nesting wetland birds.  A supply of water has been brought to Saltholme thanks to the help of local company SABIC UK (formerly Huntsman) who are ‘donating’ the water, which is a by-product of their brine production management operations.

Already up to 30 pairs of lapwings, several pairs of redshanks and three pairs of snipe are using the rejuvenated wetland, along with shovelers and yellow wagtails.  The rewetted grassland also attracted a flock of black-tailed godwits which stopped-off on their northern migration to Iceland, giving hope that the long-legged wading birds may breed here in the future.

The buried pipeline has been installed across 1000m of the site and is bringing the spare water from SABIC’s operations to Saltholme’s main lake and onwards through a sluice to feed 45ha of wet grassland.  It took 47,520 cubic metres (47,520 tons) of water to fill the wet grassland after it had dried out in one of the driest April’s on record.  We (and the birds) are very grateful to our neighbours for their help in providing our wetland pipeline lifeline.

April is always an exciting month at Saltholme.  As the winter birds depart, summer birds arrive and passage birds pass through; stopping off for a bite to eat on their way north. This April has been no exception.  At the beginning of the month a lone swallow just back from Africa swept over the pools at Saltholme, while close by we still had a pair of smew, a small diving duck that breeds in the Arctic.

We have been delighted that one of our pole-mounted owl boxes has been home to a roosting barn owl this winter but this month saw him move out in search of a mate further afield. A number of short-eared owls have also been present seen quartering the longer grassland areas often out in broad daylight. Wading birds were on the move throughout April although in smaller numbers than last April. Turnstone, ruff and black-tailed godwit have been feeding at the pool edges, one turnstone being particularly beautiful in its full summer plumage sporting its nearly white crown and orange and black feathers over its back.

A number of garganey, the rather splendid little duck that winters in Africa and breeds in small numbers in this country, arrived mid-month, as did two black-necked grebes.

The usual spring migrants were rather late in arriving in strength this year with all of the warblers, swallows and martins being almost two weeks over due.

So things are hotting up on the bird front at Saltholme, but also behind the scenes as well with work progressing well on plans for the site.  We're in the process of appointing the contractors who will build our wonderful visitor centre at Saltholme and there has been lots of interest in tendering for the job.  It's going to be tough deciding between the various companies that are interested in working with us to create the visitor side of Saltholme.

One problem we're experiencing this Spring has been that some of our wetland habitats have been unseasonably dry this year, with very little rain so far this month. Let's hope we can get some water on site before the breeding season gets into full swing. 

March was dominated by cold northerly winds, which certainly held up the returning migrant birds.  Both sand martins and wheatears were conspicuous by their absence. There was however and early marsh harrier which passed through on 10th.  Peregrine falcons were again an almost daily occurrence and we were thrilled to discovery that a barn owl had been roosting in a pole-mounted box (made by one of our volunteers) that we put up last year.

It was the wildfowl that were the most obvious stars of early spring 2007. A pair of smew was present throughout the month although they were often quite difficult to locate. Numbers of shovelers had built up to almost 100 birds. A first winter Bewick`s swan, a rare visitor to Saltholme and obviously separated from its family group en route to the Arctic, stopped off for a welcome breather from the slog into a stiff northerly wind.  A few skeins of pink-footed geese also stopped off at Saltholme on their way back from wintering in East Anglia to their breeding grounds in Iceland.  However, it was a ‘blue phase’ snow goose, which joined the small wintering flock of barnacle geese that stole the show, but it was only present for just one day mid-month.

As ever, all the bird activity proves just what an important staging post Saltholme is for migrating birds and what huge potential there is for the future.  Behind the scenes, there has been much progress made with designs for Saltholme's new Wild Bird Discovery Centre, the hides, and the infrastructure that will be needed for a new generation of RSPB nature reserve.  We’re looking forward to sharing it all with visitors; but like Rome, Saltholme certainly won’t be built in a day!

Peregrine falcons continued to be seen throughout January and there was at least one about on most days. On January 18, Dave was treated to views of both male and female sat side by side at the edge of Back Saltholme Pool.

Both were in fine condition but the male was particularly showy, sporting salmon-pink feathers. Neither bird showed any aggression toward the other and the male was being quite attentive, suggesting that the birds could be a breeding pair.

Waders were generally in lower numbers this January than last but, as with last year, there were a small number of ruffs present and black-tailed godwits returned.

Numbers of shelducks have also been on the increase throughout the month as some birds left the estuary to begin early nest-site prospecting in the marshes.

A small number of water pipits, that breed in the Alps, winter around the edges of small vegetated pools on the reserve and are usually very difficult to spot. January, however, was quite a good month for sightings.

A woodcock, which was spotted by the side of the Allotment Pool, was, as its name suggests, an unusual record for on a site with little woodland and was Dave's first sighting of this species at Saltholme.

Work has begun on clearing the area where the fabulous new Wild Bird Discovery Centre is to be built. This has involved removing some trees and, whilst it is always sad to see trees removed, we can take comfort in the fact that we have already planted 10,000 new trees and shrubs across the site, with many more to come.

More work is underway to ensure that the reedbed and wet grassland areas have sufficient water all year round. For the last few weeks, engineers have been laying a new 6" pipeline to supply our wetland areas with water supplied from our neighbours, SABIC (formerly Huntsman).

There is now a real sense of urgency and anticipation amongst the project team. Six contractors are currently vying for the contract for the building and landscape works, which is set to begin in June. The official tendering process has a deadline of 23 March, but there is still much to do to ensure we get the best company (and the best price) for this massive project.

Behind the scenes, the essential legal processes surrounding land ownership, and the impending RSPB lease agreement with the Tees Environmental Trust, move towards a conclusion.

The developing plans for the hides are also nearing completion, with work to squeeze our high aspirations back into our set budget. The plans still look fantastic and we will publish the architect's drawings as soon as we have finalized them.

And finally, during a recent visit to the site, Kevin discovered a striking adult Mediterranean gull just coming into full breeding plumage. Yet another taste of the wildlife treats in store for Saltholme.

Although December was generally a quiet month for birds, there was a first-winter Iceland gull roosting with other large gulls at the edge of the Saltholme Pools at the beginning of the month.

Rather poorly named, the Iceland gull is more likely to be visiting us from Greenland!

The reedbeds at the western end of the site have had jack snipe, water rail and green sandpiper resident throughout December. As with last year, a small number of ruffs have been wintering at Saltholme and our lovely family of stonechats are with us again.

Quite unusual for a mainly wetland site are the great spotted woodpecker and long-tailed *** that have been feeding in the small copse next to where the new Wild Bird Discovery Centre is to be built.

Members of the RSPB Cleveland Local Group took the opportunity of having a last look round the site before the building works start in earnest.

On what turned out to be a wonderfully sunny December morning we toured the site and looked at the planned locations for the trails, hides and viewing areas. There was much enthusiasm and eager anticipation for the opening of the site in May 2008, as Saltholme reserve will be right on the doorstep of our the Group.

For more information about the Cleveland Local Group, visit their website at: http://www.rspb.org.uk/groups/cleveland/

The big news this month was the fantastic outcome of the eagerly-awaited decisions on our applications for funding for Saltholme.

As you can imagine, we were delighted to hear that the Regional Development Agency, One NorthEast, has agreed to invest £2.3m in the project, through the Tees Valley Partnership. The European Regional Development Fund is contributing a further £1.4m through the Government Office for the North East.

Thanks to their investment, we can now get stuck into creating a site that the region can be proud of and one that will provide important benefits for wildlife and people.

However, after the elation of the recent positive decisions it's now back to the nitty-gritty of working on the myriad range of things that now need to be done. Everything from organising the selection process for our main contractor, to finalising the new hide designs, and preparing a planning application for hides and footpaths. It's slow but steady progress behind the scenes.

Meanwhile on site, wintering bird numbers steadily built up during November and there are regularly 2,000 lapwings and golden plovers around the edges of the Saltholme pools. November has also seen the return of the peregrines and both an adult male and second-winter female are with us most days, creating turmoil amongst the wintering waders.

Numbers of wildfowl have also steadily increased and good numbers of that most elegant of all dabbling ducks, the pintail, are here from the north, as are wigeons and goldeneyes. The resident Canada and greylag geese have been joined this year by a small number of barnacle and pink-footed geese, which makes looking through them even more interesting. At the beginning of the month, a solitary Greenland white-fronted goose was also mixing in with the 600 strong flocks of geese.

Four long-eared owls have been roosting through the day in an area of hawthorn and elder scrub to the south of the reserve. Their streaked plumage, in various shades of brown and grey, is incredibly effective camouflage and makes them almost impossible to detect.

In winter, long-eared owls often roost in small groups and scientists have yet to agree on exactly why a bird of prey, that hunts on its own, should choose to roost in close proximity to others of its kind who will inevitably compete for the same food sources!

It's going to be an action-packed 2007 at Saltholme as we count down towards our goal of opening in '08. We'll be keeping you up to date with all the developments throughout the New Year. In the meantime, we hope that you have a great Christmas.

Last month was dominated by an agonising wait for decisions on our grant aid bids for Saltholme.

Both the Tees Valley Partnership and the appraisal group of our Regional Development Agency One NorthEast have approved a £2.3 million bid for a grant from the Single Programme.

The Single Programme is a source of funding that supports regional regeneration and tourism projects in the region, both of which are at the core of our plans for Saltholme. However, the final decision is down to the Board of Directors of One NorthEast and was due on 30 October but has now been deferred to 6 November.

We are on tenterhooks waiting for the phone call to let us know their decision. A decision on a bid to the Government Office North East for a £1.5m European Fund grant is also awaited. We will post news on these decisions just as soon as it arrives.

Despite the emotional rollercoaster of playing the funding waiting game, there is much detailed planning going on behind the scenes. Everything from finalising ground-breaking plans for what we think will be the blueprint for the design of future bird hides, through to choosing door handles.

On the bird front, October is a month when numbers of migrating waders decline and the winter flocks begin to establish themselves. Numbers of lapwings and golden plovers increased and the end of the month saw flocks of both into treble figures.

Wintering wildfowl also arrived during October and there were hundreds of wigeon by the month end. Their delightful whistling calls carrying across the pools and a sure sign on Teesside that the year is on the turn.

Skeins of pink-footed geese were seen hurrying south along the North Sea coast on their way from Iceland to East Anglia. Birds of prey were again evident this month, with the last of the marsh harriers passing through, while merlins and peregrines arrived on the Tees marshes for the winter.

Migrant thrushes arrived from the Continent, including redwings, blackbirds and song thrushes. Fieldfares, however, were scarce throughout October and the mild weather that we enjoyed throughout the month may well have been the same in northern Europe. No doubt, they will arrive in big numbers with the onset of colder weather.

During the school half-term week, we arranged for ten young people from Port Clarence - the community adjacent to Saltholme - to visit the RSPB Leighton Moss reserve in Lancashire.

The teenagers got stuck into some practical tasks at Leighton Moss. They built minibeast habitat in the reserve's education zone, laid a footpath from the visitor centre onto the reserve, and investigated the wildlife that is found in reedbeds. The kids did a great job and we hope it helped them discover more about what goes behind the scenes at a nature reserve.

The activities also emphasised three key roles that Saltholme will have - as an exciting place for young people to learn about wildlife, a wonderful visitor experience for families, and a fabulous place for wildlife conservation.

Let's hope the Board of Directors agrees - fingers crossed for good news on the 6th.