Teesside nature reserve’s 15 years of conservation success

RSPB Saltholme Nature Reserve has celebrated its 15th birthday, marking a decade and a half of conservation success since its transformation from an industrial site into a thriving nature reserve.

Since opening in 2009, the site has transformed into a wildflower meadow and a nature-rich oasis, home to thousands of birds, which achieved its original goal of attracting breeding bittern in 2022.

It has also become an established breeding site for lapwing, avocet, and common tern and is a triple Visit England Gold Award Winner, winning in 2017, 2021 and 2022 and a winner of the coveted VisitEngland Welcome Award in 2023.

It now welcomes 60,000 visitors per year and has hosted 40,000 schoolchildren since opening.

The celebration, at RSPB Saltholme, which included a Big Birthday Party on in early April and cutting of a bird-friendly cake, saw visitors engaging in various activities such as Pond Dipping, Minibeast Hunting, Guided Walks, and Mindfulness Art sessions.

The event also featured a picnic lunch, where Billingham’s first ever Town Crier, Joe Stockil, declared the reserve a “roaring success”.

Reuben Fellows, a regular visitor from Redcar, even made a special card and had the honour of cutting the bird-themed cake, made from bird food shaped into ducks, which guests could take home to feed their garden birds.

RSPB Saltholme is now home to one of the UK’s largest inland breeding colonies of common tern, which arrive each Spring and nest on the cockleshell-covered islands in open pools. 

Chris Francis, senior site manager at RSPB Saltholme explained: “The aim was to create a flagship regeneration project here in Teesside that would bring wildlife and people together in an exciting and imaginative way.

“The conservation work we do here is crucial for the many threatened species, such as bittern, golden plover, and black-tailed godwits. 

“I’ve been with the reserve since 2018 and it has been a privilege to manage the site, working with such a dedicated conservation team and with over 100 local volunteers.  It was fantastic to reach our millionth visitor milestone too, last month. 

“Despite the successes though, we are still facing a nature and climate emergency.

“We need to do even more in the next 15 years to support the recovery of wildlife both on the Tees Estuary and around the world.”

RSPB Saltholme is a triple VisitEngland Gold Award Winner, scooping awards in 2017, 2021 and 2022 and in October 2023 the nature reserve also won the highly prized VisitEngland Welcome Award.

Celebrations will continue throughout the year with over 1,000 Saltholme Passport books already handed out. 

Also as part of the celebrations, RSPB Saltholme is encouraging visitors to share their memories with them; these could be newspaper clippings, photos, pictures or letters and you can send these by post or email to : Saltholme@rspb.org.uk or share on social media @RSPBSaltholme on Facebook and Twitter, using the hashtag #Saltholme15.

David Kitchen, chair of Teesside Environmental Trust, added: “Since 1998 we have had a clear vision and motivation to create a nature reserve of international importance on the land that we own at Saltholme.  “And, after granting a long lease to the RSPB in 2007 to utilise their skills and expertise in habitat creation, and providing funding to the RSPB, we look forward to further supporting Saltholme and RSPB in increasing visitor numbers and the educational programmes on offer.” 

To find out more about visiting RSPB Saltholme, go to www.rspb.org.uk/days-out/reserves/saltholme.