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Teesside, in the North-east of England, is one of Britain’s major regions for heavy industry. Most of this is concentrated around the mouth of the River Tees. To the north is the port of Hartlepool. Between this and Middlesbrough, to the south, stand oil terminals, storage depots and refineries. There are jetties for the handling of containers and iron ore, a steelworks, a nuclear power station and one of the largest chemicals manufacturing complexes in Europe.

Surrounded by this industrial landscape, and dominated by it from every viewpoint, is the Teesmouth National Nature Reserve. Not only does nature survive in this most unlikely of settings, watched over by English Nature, it thrives.

Industry is not new around the Tees estuary. In mediaeval times, sea water was evaporated to obtain salt. Defensive banks against the tides were built and the land, upon which the modern industries stand, was reclaimed.

A few miles to the west is Stockton, from which in 1825, amid the earliest rumblings of the Industrial Revolution, the world’s first commercial steam railway service carried passengers and freight to nearby Darlington.

During the period of heaviest pollution, in the nineteenth century, wildlife maintained the most precarious foothold around Teesmouth. With the clean-up of industry during the latter half of the twentieth century, it began to move back.

In 1966, Seal Sands and the dunes to the north of the estuary were notified as Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Much of this area was declared a National Nature Reserve, by English Nature, in 1995. In view of its importance in bringing nature to the general public, the site has been given the status of Spotlight Reserve, one of only 31 throughout England.

Teesmouth National Nature Reserve covers more than 350 hectares on the north bank of the Tees estuary. It lies in two sections, separated by Seaton Channel. The north side of the channel forms the southern boundary of the Hartlepool nuclear power station. This in turn is flanked on two of its remaining three sides by North Gare, an area of salt marsh, old sea wall and coastal sand dune.

Seal Sands comprises the southern half of the reserve, and is the largest region of intertidal mud flats between the Humber and Holy Island. Throughout the year, it provides a sanctuary for migrating waterbirds.

The path from the main road to the edge of Seal Sands follows, for half-a-mile, the southern bank of Greatham Creek. This is tidal, and when the tide is out, shores of grey-brown mud, fringed along their upper limits by bladder wrack, slope down to the sluggish water. Here, redshank and dunlin wade through the mud, pecking for invertebrates, while teal and the occasional little grebe paddle

Here also, even on the coldest days, seals bask in easy view of motorists, though the approach of a pedestrian will send them sliding back into the water.

As a result of pollution and hunting, seals became extinct on the Tees Estuary by 1860. A century later, common and grey seals began to return, and by the late 1980’s the common seals had started to breed. Around four or five pups are born each year, which is a smaller number than would be expected from a population of about seventy, but it is steady, and numbers are monitored closely. Teesmouth remains, so far, the only regular breeding ground for common seals on the north-east coast of England between Lincolnshire and Lindisfarne.

Skilled volunteers have carried out a detailed bird count every month for the past twenty years, so that estimates of bird numbers are reliable. These reveal that more than 20 000 individual water birds visit the Estuary during a given year. Twenty years ago, the number of wintering shelduck was around 2000, but this total has fallen steadily to only 500 birds. Why this has happened is not fully understood, but a shift to coarser, sandier sediments is implicated, along with the growth of mats of smothering weed over the tidal flats. In contrast, during the same period, the cormorant population has risen nearly eightfold.

The industrial ambience creates some unexpected opportunities for birds. Security fencing around industries bordering the National Nature Reserve limits disturbance by deterring visitors from some areas, while the lighting enables waders to feed throughout the night.

A bird-watching hide at the south-west corner of Seal Sands gives a panoramic view across the mud flats. To the east, steam clouds rise above the steelworks, seeming to match in volume the natural clouds that hang over the backdrop of the Cleveland hills. To the north, the power station appears almost clinically clean. And dotted around the intervening quadrant, at any time of the year, are the birds.

In winter come knot from the Arctic, teal and shelduck. Spring brings ringed plovers and sanderlings, while in summer Sandwich terns come to feed. As the year moves toward autumn, curlew, redshank and cormorant replace many of these. Even raptors, such as merlin and peregrine search for prey across Seal Sands.

The cleaning-up of the river has led to an unforeseen problem, in that mats of weed are now covering much of Seal Sands. This makes feeding difficult for birds as it not only reduces the number of invertebrates on which many of the waders feed, but also makes it easier for those invertebrates that are present to hide from the birds.

To the south of Seal Sands, English Nature has created a tidal lagoon known as the ‘Intertidal Project’. Constructed in 1993, this functions by allowing a controlled flow of water through a pipe in the sea wall. Invertebrates, brought in by the tides, attract birds like redshank, curlew, grey plover and oystercatcher to the muddy margins, while shelduck, and teal feed in the shallows. A second hide affords good views to bird-watchers.

The sand dunes and grazing marshes of North Gare offer a different environment where skylark and meadow pipit nest. Lapwing and flocks of curlew often dozens strong stalk the pastures alongside the approach road. Short-eared owls find a rich source of food among the dune grasslands.

In summer, flowers dominate the scene at North Gare. Lady’s bedstraw, bird’s foot trefoil, vetches and four species of orchid grow among adder’s tongue fern and rare grasses. These attract butterflies and moths, many of them rare, along with several varieties of beetles, spiders and snails.

English Nature has recently introduced a carefully controlled system of grazing by Hebridean sheep. This is intended to keep the strong-growing grasses in check, while allowing the flowering plants to proliferate.

Beyond the barrier of the dunes lie more sand and mud flats. Here, oystercatchers forage for cockles and sanderlings race the waters at the tide’s edge. In the distance, the surreal view of a ship sailing out of the Tees recalls images of tankers passing through Suez.

English Nature maintains strong contacts with industry, and along with companies such as British Energy, Phillips Petroleum, BP, Northumbrian Water, Tees and Hartlepool Port Authority and BASF, has formed the Teesmouth Industry and Wildlife Partnership. These companies together donate £25 000 each year toward management of the National Nature Reserve.

The Reserve lies to the east of the A178 between Middlesbrough and Hartlepool. Seal Sands can be accessed from a car park at Cowpen Marsh just south of the bridge over Greatham Creek. The North Gare car park is well signposted from the main road to the north of the Hartlepool Power Station.

Teesmouth is a shining demonstration of how successful co-operation rather than confrontation with industry can be in preserving and enhancing thriving habitats for wildlife. It provides a model for what can be achieved elsewhere.

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