SITES

	Greatham, Teesside, UK
	West Site, Billingham, UK
	Grimsby, Humberside, UK
	Calais, France
	Huelva, Spain
	Scarlino, Italy
	Teluk Kalung, Malaysia
Habitats on the Teluk Kalung Site Forests at Tiger Bay Mangrove Swamps Invertebrates Fish Amphibians and Reptiles Birds Mammals Biodiversity Management
	Umbogintwini, South Africa
	Lake Charles, USA
	Burnie, Tasmania

Index by Category

Appendices

References

Teluk Kalung, Malaysia

Habitats on the Teluk Kalung Site

The titanium pigment production areas and other related infrastructures cover only a limited part of the total site, mainly towards the northeastern end. The remainder, and larger part of the site, is relatively undeveloped. A number of interesting wildlife habitats, especially wetlands which are mainly associated with a series of settling ponds to the south of the production area, are represented. The following habitats are present:

Wetlands

• Typha and Scirpus marsh
• open water
• muddy margins
• drainage ditches
• flooded bush

Terrestrial

• tree and shrub areas
• bare and sparsely vegetated areas
• scrub areas

Highly modified

• cut grassland
• ornamental gardens
• industrial plant

Wetland Habitats

Typha and Scirpus Marsh
This habitat has increased on the site since the early 1990s especially in the western section of the settling ponds. It is an important habitat for waterbirds such as Purple Heron and Cinnamon Bittern. Moorhen also occurs in this habitat and almost certainly breeds on the site. This is a rare and declining species in Malaysia, especially along the east coast (see Section Birds). Some of the Typha-Scirpus marsh, particularly adjacent to the western perimeter road is drying out and is now virtually choked with vegetation. Aquatic ferns such as Ceratopteris thalicitiodes have colonised the wetter parts of this area with species such as Arostichum speciosum in the drier sections.
Birds recorded from these areas include White-breasted Moorhen and Lesser Coucal but there is potential for many more species to occur. Observation in this tangled mass of vegetation is difficult; bird trapping using mist-nets would almost certainly be productive.

Open Water and Muddy Habitats
These habitats are associated with the settling ponds, especially towards the western end. Wildfowl are not common in Malaysia, nowhere are there any large and diverse populations of ducks that are characteristic of many temperate wetland habitats. The only species recorded on the Teluk Kalung site is Lesser Tree Duck that occurs on the open water areas of the settling ponds. Various species of kingfishers are also found in this habitat. Together with the various ditches and drainage channels these wetlands support very large numbers of dragonflies which in turn are preyed upon by birds such as bee-eaters. The muddy edges of the ponds are important for migrant wading birds in both spring and autumn.

Drainage Ditches
The vegetation in these ditches includes Typha, which is very invasive and which in time will probably dominate this habitat. There are also present various sedges (Cyperus spp) and rushes (Scirpus spp) together with stonewort (Nitella sp.) and bladderwort (Utricularia sp). Large numbers of dragonflies breed in these ditches that also supports Moorhen, a rare species in Malaysia (see Section Birds).

Flooded Bushland
This is a relict habitat created during the initial reclamation phase for the site when coastal forest and bushland were flooded with seawater to kill the trees. Before production started in March 1992 there were considerable areas of this habitat on the site. By September 2000 much of these had been used for landfill and other purposes, and flooded bushland habitat on the site was much reduced. Although visually rather unattractive these flooded areas were nevertheless good wildlife habitat and numbers of Chinese Pond Herons, Yellow Bitterns and various crakes were found in here in 1992. The scarcity or lack of such species on the site in September 2000 might have been partially due to the reduction in these flooded areas (see Section Birds).

Terrestrial Habitats

Woodland and Scrub
These habitats are found mainly around the perimeter of the site. Some relicts of the original coastal habitats of the area have been planted as part of site landscaping projects. Plants such as fishtail palm (Caryota mitis) and straits rhododendron (Melastoma malabathricum) are present and these support large numbers of invertebrate and birds. Butterflies are numerous and the straits rhododendron is the main food plant of Common Sailor Butterfly (Neptis hylas) that occurs in this habitat.
Characteristic birds include Spotted Dove, Large-billed Crow, Pied Fantail and various warblers.

Bare and Sparsely Vegetated Areas
Due to the inevitable development of the production and associated areas of the site these habitats have reduced since the original survey in 1992. Wildlife, such as Red-wattled Lapwing and Richard’s Pipit, which require such habitat, was correspondingly less common on the site in 2000. Fortunately these birds, especially Richard’s Pipit, are quite common and widespread species in the surrounding area.

Highly Modified Habitats

Cut grassland
Understandably this is not a very productive habitat. The main wildlife interest of this habitat is as a feeding area for common birds such as Common Myna, Richard’s Pipit and munias.

Ornamental Gardens
Such habitats are usually less attractive to wildlife than natural shrub and woodland sites, but they can often support a considerable variety of invertebrates and birds.
The ornamental garden areas around the office buildings on the Tioxide site support birds such as Oriental Magpie Robin, Yellow-vented Bulbuls and sunbirds. Some species of butterflies are also common in these areas.

Industrial Plant
The actual buildings and plant structure are naturally of very limited wildlife interest although birds such as Common Myna and Tree Sparrows are found and probably nest. The Tree Sparrow is of some interest since it inhabits sites that in other parts of the world would be exploited by House Sparrow that does not occur in Malaysia. In some parts of its extensive global range Tree Sparrow populations are steeply declining and are of considerable conservation concern (Summers-smith 1995).