Otter Returns to Clean River and Wildlife Corridors

Tuesday night on the local news was two stories that related to wildlife. The first (although the second shown) was about a sighting of Otters in the mouth of the River Tees. I visited the location last year and did try to film; photograph or even just see them, I did not for the record. However I was under strict instructions not to disclose the potential sightings then. But now I can reveal that there are indeed otters there.

It is the first sightings of them on the river for well over forty years. For so many years the river was nothing more than an open sewer and drain for the chemical industries that dominate the location. However over the years industry was forced to clean up and now the river is no longer one of the dirtiest and is now clean enough for the fish to live. That next link in the environmental chain is now filled again by a pair of Otters.

The industry and the jobs are still here in Stockton and the surrounding areas, yet by stopping the pollution has enabled the wildlife to return. It is not just the wildlife that has benefited from this but the people too. The most obvious benefit is the cleaner air and water was having on human health. Even though there are still health problems in the general area, people are in general more healthy. Further, with the river now cleaner, people can now use the river for leisure activities such as boating and fishing.

But the real benefit is the wildlife that is now starting to thrive. It is not too distant that the RSPB have opened their newest reserve. There are plenty of other patches that are nature reserves in the area and Tees Mouth itself is a National Nature Reserve.

The second news story relates directly to the problem of this patchwork of wildlife havens. Although the way it was covered was as a "Celebrity" in the area story. Yet the "Celebrity" was the Naturalist Chris Packham who was here to promote an effort by the three regional wildlife trusts to find ways of linking this wonderful patchwork of nature reserves so that the wildlife can not only survive in these places but across the whole region.

One of the reasons why the Red Kites have thrived here in the North East of England is simply that the birds were not released into a reserve, but into the area, the countryside. The birds have places that are protected, but because they are just there in the farmland, public parks, allotments and peoples back gardens they have thrived better than they could ever have done had they just been in a nature reserve.

For a whole range of wildlife we need to allow the birds, the mammals the whole gambit of species to break free from their protected areas to spread out. If we can keep our environment clean and welcoming then there will be more places where Otters, Red Kites, Polecats and so many other species can return to the countryside where they belong.