SITES

	Greatham, Teesside, UK
Nature Conservation Status Habitats on Greatham Site Vegetation Invertebrates Reptiles and Amphibians Birds Mammals Conservation on Greatham Site Wildlife in Adjacent Areas Biodiversity Management
	West Site, Billingham, UK
	Grimsby, Humberside, UK
	Calais, France
	Huelva, Spain
	Scarlino, Italy
	Teluk Kalung, Malaysia
	Umbogintwini, South Africa
	Lake Charles, USA
	Burnie, Tasmania

Index by Category

Appendices

References

Greatham, Teesside, United Kingdom

Vegetation

Much of the non-wetland parts of the site are covered by low diversity neutral grassland dominated with false oat grass (Arrhenatherum elatus) with sweet vernal grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum), couch grass (Elymus repens), meadow fescue (Festuca pratensis) and red fescue (F. rubra) growing commonly in some areas.
There are also some less extensive but generally more diverse botanical communities present, these include:

• tall herb community dominated by thistles and willowherb but also including some low shrubs such as willow
• aquatic vegetation associated with ponds and drainage stells
• plant communities along the slag walls that contain characteristic calcicole species
• more diverse and less rank grassland with large colonies of orchids
• relatively small areas of saltmarsh vegetation.

More detailed descriptions of the overall vegetation of the site are given by Physalia (1997) (PDF 2Mb) and some of the more diverse botanical habitats are discussed below.

Saltmarsh Plant Communities
There are a number of relict saltmarsh habitats on the site mainly along the western edges of the Sea Wall Pools and along the pools adjacent to Greatham Creek.
Other saltmarsh areas close to the Tioxide site are located at Greatham Creek immediately west of the A 178 road bridge and on No. 4 Brinefield (which is owned by Ineos but managed on their behalf by Huntsman) to the south of the Tioxide works.
Saltmarshes are declining along the north east coast with Teesmouth holding the only significant saltmarsh plant communities between Holy Island about 150 km to the north and the Humber Estuary about 150 km to the south. The plant species occurring in the saltmarsh habitats on and around the Tioxide site are given in Table 5.

Pools, Drainage Stells, Ditches and other Wetlands
Around the pools that have the highest salinity there are relict patches of saltmarsh habitat (see Section Saltmarsh Plant Communities). In less saline wetlands there are reedbeds of Phragmites australis and reedmace (Typha latifolia) and in a number of areas considerable patches of sea club-rush (Bolboschoenus maritimus). These rush and reedbeds are important bird habitats (see Section Birds).

Preliminary surveys of some drainage stells and other wetland habitats have been carried out in connection with the construction of a new pool at the north end of the site (Lawrence & Smith 1988). Drainage stells in this area are dominated in part by sea club rush (Bolboschoenus maritimus) growing in association with floating sweet grass (Glyceria fluitans) and great hairy willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum). The latter being more common in sections of the stells that are still wet, but do not hold so much standing water. Mud rush (Juncus gerardii), brackish-water crowfoot (Ranunculus baudotii), false fox sedge (Carex otrubae) and celery-leaved buttercup (Ranunculus sceleratus) occur less commonly.

The brackish-water crowfoot, which is quite common on some parts of the site, is of particular interest. This is a Nationally Scarce plant that has generally declined in Britain over the past 150 years, mainly along the west coast and in some inland sites (Stewart et. al. 1994). The True Fox Sedge, Carex vulpina is another wetland species of interest that is currently classified as nationally scarce. It is also a new Vice-county record (subject to acceptance of confirmation based on the structure of its seeds) and means that Greenabella Marsh is the most northerly refuge for the sedge in the British Isles. Like most Cyperaceae, its preference is for boggy, waterlogged land although the densely tufted stems/leaves of this native species may tolerate short periods of drying. It is usually found in wet places on heavy soils, in ditches and by streams particularly in the South East of England.

The loss of coastal pasture seems to be the major cause of its decline but under the right conditions it will colonise new sites. This appears to be the case at Teesmouth where brackish-water crowfoot has spread to Greenabella Marsh and onto to wetland habitats south of Greatham Creek and east of the sea wall.

The plant prefers shallow, brackish water (< 30 cm) and thrives best in areas where dense emergent vegetation such as sea club rush is suppressed by stock grazing or physical management (Stewart et. al. 1994).

Tioxide has chosen brackish-water crowfoot as one of its conservation targets in the INCA “adopt-a-species” programme. Some of the drainage stells and pools are managed to encourage this species and it has been a limited introduction to other pools using plant material collected elsewhere on the site.

Species Rich Grassland
On the more northern parts of the site vegetation becomes less dense and the coarser grasses give way to species such as red fescue (Festuca rubra), although Yorkshire fog and false oat grass are still present. Orchids of several species occur in these grasslands in large numbers. Whilst the actual number of flower spikes has varied over the years the overall trend is that the orchid populations are increasing, see Table 6.

Low Nutrient Habitats
Some parts of the site especially along the sea wall and unpaved tracks low nutrient and relatively high pH substrates occur. These are mainly the result of using blast furnace slag for reclaiming the original mudflats and marshes very many years ago. Over the years these habitats have developed important plant communities similar to those occurring in natural chalk and limestone habitats. The calcicole species growing on and around the Tioxide site are listed in Table 7.