Well, it has felt like we haven’t stopped here at Saltholme over recent weeks, with lots being achieved by the team. Last time I talked about the hedge that has been planted down one side of our Wild Saltholme area, well unfortunately the same area seems to suffer with large volumes of litter ending up on our land. Much must get blown in, but a fair amount is thrown in and some is blatantly dumped. Our volunteers carried out a litter pick in March that we thought may not last a whole day’s task but that, it most certainly did. An enormous amount of litter and fly-tipping was collected – several dumpy bags full in fact and it took several journeys to bring it all back to the yard. A couple of the notable finds included piles of dumped cable sheath remains, dumped after stolen cable has been stripped, and a toilet. March has been litter pick month for us, as we also tidied some of the routes at Dorman’s, particularly the section that runs alongside the Huntsman Drive, our boundary at Haverton Scrub, and our Youth Rangers put in a sterling effort along the England Coastal Path from Saltholme East south towards Port Clarence. We are also very grateful to Stockton Council and the Care For Your Area team for collecting much of the collected litter from our yard.
Some of the litter collected by our volunteer groups
We have also planted some of our left-over plants from recent donations. Over the last few years we have taken donations from a hedging company around March time and looked after them until planting a year or two later. There has also been a bit of back and forth of plants between ourselves and the Tees Valley Wildlife Trust who have a more substantial nursery for one of their recent projects. In the mix are plants of Alder Buckthorn, which has been planted in a couple of areas since 2020 with the hope of attracting breeding Brimstone butterfly whose caterpillars feed on the leaves. The caterpillars of the Tissue moth, a scarce species in the county, also feed on alder buckthorn and may benefit. Other mixed plants have been planted in various areas including near to some of our newer dragonfly ponds, species include Oak, Wych Elm, Rowan, Holly and Privet, and as we diversify the site, so in time we will increase its biodiversity value.
A young Alder Buckthorn plant, breakfast, lunch and dinner for Brimstone butterfly caterpillars
Visitors and volunteers will have noticed the footpath work we have been carrying out prior to the breeding season. Contractors started work on the Wildflower Walk in late February, scraping off vegetation that had been accumulating for the best part of fifteen years, creeping in from both sides, and narrowing the path. In some places the path had all but disappeared, kept just about open by the tyres of our bikes as we cycle round opening and closing the site each day. The existing stone base of the paths was left in place to reduce the quantity of raw materials required. Stone was then added, returning the path to its original width and raising it up slightly. Some shallow grips were also dug to assist with water run-off. Two stretches of the Meadow footpath were improved as well, and hopefully now some of these areas will feel (and be) a little more accessible through all seasons and for years to come.
Contractors scraping vegetation from the footpaths on the Wildflower Walk
The new surface of a path on the Lake Walk, beside the Meadow (Image credit: Ed Hearn)
Over at Dorman’s, the path to the hide has suffered similarly since its installation - it had become overgrown, and required regular maintenance in order to maintain access. In wet winters such as the one of 2023/24 the path flooded for long stretches and wellies were needed for wading through this, quite an annoyance if we turned up to open or close the hide without. We therefore raised stretches of it to reduce this risk of flooding.
At Dorman’s we also took the decision to widen the path, and create some habitat alongside the path, and near to the car park. Dorman’s is the best site of ours for Dingy Skipper and Grayling butterflies, we counted a truly phenomenal 69 Dingy Skipper there in a single visit in 2023, and we regularly record Grayling there, with our largest count being of 37 individuals in 2016. These species favour bare, and sparsely vegetated ground, such as you get at Dorman’s, and we wanted to create more of this. Often the best area for Dingy Skipper is along the roadside between the bottom car park and the top access gate, and for Grayling it is what we call the ‘diagonal path,’ that enables you to get from the bottom car park to the top car park without having to walk along the road, although this has reduced in quality over the years. In time, we hope to see the foodplants of these species, and others, colonise these new stony, bare areas. Kidney Vetch is one such other plant we'd like to establish. It flowers from June and is the sole foodplant of the Small Blue butterfly. It just so happens that in 2019, the Small Blue underwent a re-introduction on Teesside, and I have heard of one or two sightings at Dorman's, so one day the walk to the hide at Dorman's could be graced by Dingy Skipper, Small Blue and Grayling butterflies, just not all at he same time!
The widened footpath to the hide at Dorman's will vegetate up over time
An additional area of bare ground habitat for we hope will colonise with plants typical of Teesside slag grasslands
Kidney Vetch, caterpillars of the Small Blue feed on its flowers and developing seeds
Adult Small Blue butterfly
Another task we completed in late February, over at Dorman’s, was the removal of large amounts of invasive Sea Buckthorn and Buddleia. This work nicely complements the bare ground habitat creation closer to the hide. We used contractors to remove, en-masse, these invasive plants because as they spread, they degrade some of the special, slag grassland type habitats that exist at Dorman’s, which are so important for the local flora and invertebrates. I've mentioned butterflies, but we have also seen the Six-belted Clearwing moth and Tiger Beetles at Dorman's and flowers including Basil Thyme, Blue Fleabane and Carline Thistle.
Green Tiger Beetle
The preparation of the Sand Martin bank is an annual maintenance task whereby we fill the structure, viewable from the café, back up with sand ready for returning birds. As the birds excavate their burrows, they remove sand which in time needs replenishing and compacting. The last couple of times we have carried out this task, we have actually removed sand from the structure first, to enable better ‘tamping’ (for compacting) of the 'lower levels' of sand, before putting the sand back in, topping up, and tamping this. The reason we tamp the sand is to compact it and to collapse the old tunnels. This means birds using the structure are required to excavate their burrows each year, a nice behaviour to observe, and there may also be some benefit in reducing parasite load in the nest site. Anyway the wall is ready for use and the first of the Sand Martins were back and investigating it for the upcoming season in the last week of March.
The Sand Martin bank at Saltholme (image credit: Ed Hearn)