Natural History of Upper Teesdale
The latest edition of “The Natural History of Upper Teesdale” was published by Durham Wildlife Trust in 2018. This book was described in the North Pennines AONB Consultation for the area’s management plan 2019-2024 as “the standard reference work on the area’s natural heritage for years to come”. We have translated the content of this publication for the web, to encourage wider reading and research access.
01
Introduction
by Lord Barnard DL
Most of the land in Upper Teesdale belongs to the Raby Estate or to the Strathmore Estate. The Dale lies within the North Pennines Area of Outstanding National Beauty (NPAONB) and 8,800 hectares forms the Moor House–Upper Teesdale National Nature Reserve. Many areas are covered by specific designations to protect and conserve them. In 2017 the Northern Echo profiled Lord Barnard DL and the Raby Estate.
See the NPAONB site: http://www.explorenorthpennines.org.uk for visitor information.
Please recognise and respect the fact that the countryside is a farmer’s home and workshop and that all land belongs to someone, even if you have a right of access. Follow all guidance provided, including the Country Code and codes for specific activities, including water sports. Please give generously to the local economy.
02
People
by Tom Gledhill
Tom Gledhill is a landscape archaeologist. He completed his Phd at Sheffield University on the Woodland History of North Yorkshire. He was a Regional Historic Environment Advisor for Natural England in the North East, and now works as a Heritage at Risk Officer, Historic England North East.
Tom maintains a strong interest in the ecology and history of the North Pennines and Upper Teesdale in particular. He is Chair of Teesdale Special Flora, a charity which focuses on the unique flora of Teesdale.
In this chapter Tom looks at how human settlement has shaped the region.
Chapter Summary
For over six thousand years people have lived, worked and shaped the landscape of Upper Teesdale. More at least half that time, farming has been a feature in the region, and iron and lead industry has left its mark since medieval times. While the past two centuries has seen significant change, the bridges, roads and railways had already fixed the map of human settlement.
03
Weather & Climate
By Ian Findlay
Ian Findlay MBE, a retired warden, local farmer and wildlife enthusiast, brings local knowledge of the way weather and climate has impacted on Upper Teesdale.
Chapter Summary
Geographically, the Pennines are unique within England because they are the only significant upland area that is not close to the sea. This fact has implications for the climate of the Pennines and, with the River Teeshaving its source close to Cross Fell, the highest summit in the Pennine chain, Upper Teesdale has its own climatic conditions.
At the altitudes of 350–800 m in the Dale, the growing season is very short, even with ‘the best weather’,with implications for wildlife and hill farmers. Climactic conditions allow some plant growth but only partial decomposition of dead material, the latter forming peat to a depth of around 2m. Extreme climatic events are a characteristic of the area.
04
Bedrock Geology
By Brian Young
Brian Young is a Honorary Research Fellow, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Durham. Here is gets to the how the diversity of what lies beneath the ground has shaped what is above.
Chapter Summary
The significance of its geology figures prominently in Upper Teesdale’s place within the Moorhouse – Upper Teesdale National Nature Reserve and the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) which coincides with the UNESCO-designated North Pennine Geopark. Numerous sites and features within the Dale are scheduled as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) specifically for their geological importance.
Whereas there is much of interest in the rocks, fossils and minerals themselves, an understanding of this geological diversity is also vital to fully appreciating the ecological, social and economic character of this beautiful Pennine valley.
05
Geomorphology & Quaternary Glacial Legacy
By David A J Evans
Margaret Bradshaw MBE PhD is a retired lecturer, University of Durham, and an unrivalled expert on the unique Teesdale Assemblage. She has recently established the Dr ME Bradshaw’s Teesdale Special Flora Research & Conservation Trust which has a website and Facebook page.
Chapter Summary
Details of the North Pennines landscape relate specifically to the underlying bedrock, where shifts in rock and erosion has resulted in stepped hillslope profiles and tableland features. Glaciation is manifest in the landscapes of Teesdale and the North Pennines in the form of features eroded by ice or by its meltwater, andby the ‘glacigenic drift’ where surface materials include sands and gravels of meltwater deposits and tills that are poorly sorted sediments plastered on the landscape by glacier ice.
Whereas there is much of interest in the rocks, fossils and minerals themselves, an understanding of this geological diversity is also vital to fully appreciating the ecological, social and economic character of this beautiful Pennine valley.
06
Flora and Vegetation
By Margaret E Bradshaw
Margaret Bradshaw MBE PhD is a retired lecturer, University of Durham, and an unrivalled expert on the unique Teesdale Assemblage. She has recently established the Dr ME Bradshaw’s Teesdale Special Flora Research & Conservation Trust which has a website and Facebook page.
Chapter Summary
The flora of Upper Teesdale is probably more widely known than that of any other area in Britain, and yet perhaps only a few of the thousands who visit the Dale each year realise the extent to which the vegetationand flora contribute to the essence of its character.
In the valley, the meadows in the small walled fields extend, in the lower part, far up the south-facing slope, and, until 1957 to almost 570m at Grass Hill, then the highest farm in England. On the north face, the ascent of the meadows is abruptly cut off from the higher, browner fells by the Whin Sill cliff, marked by a line ofquarries.
Below High Force, the floor of the valley has a general wooded. Above High Force is a broader, barer valley which merges with the expansive fells leading up to the characteristic skyline of Great Dun Fell, Little Dun Fell and Cross Fell.
For generations of British naturalists, Upper Teesdale has been hallowed ground, and many still come each year to ‘pay their respects’ to the relics of an earlier, more widespread flora. For those on more serious business, the unique plant communities are of major scientific importance and provide abundant opportunities for ecological and taxonomic research.
07
Origins and History of Teesdale Flora
By Margaret E Bradshaw and Judith Turner
Margaret Bradshaw is joined by Judith Turner, PhD: retired lecturer, University of Durham, to explore the creation of what is the remarkable Teesdale Assemblage.
Chapter Summary
Botanists know the remarkable collection of plants of outstanding scientific interest in Upper Teesdale as the Teesdale Assemblage. Today, it is generally agreed that the majority of the ‘Teesdale assemblage of plants’ are relics, which were widespread in much of Britain in the Late-glacial period and subsequent warmer periods. Fragmentation of their, then, more or less continuous distribution patterns took place during the subsequent warmer (forest) and later wetter (blanket-bog) periods.
The high incidence of distinct local races in several species can be explained as small-scale evolutionary changes which have taken place during the long isolation of the populations in their Teesdale habitats. A further special feature of interest exhibited by several of the rarities is that taxonomically they are represented in Teesdale by local races. In some cases, the divergence from other populations of the same species is sufficiently great to warrant their reclassification as a new sub-species.
08
Fauna
By Ian Findlay and John Coulson
Ian Findlay and John Coulson PhD, a retired Reader in Animal Ecology, University of Durham and author of ‘Gulls (Collins New Naturalist Library, Book 139)’ published 2019 by William Collins, offer a comprehensive review of the fauna of Upper Teesdale.
Chapter Summary
Sheep, mostly Swaledale, are the most obvious mammals in Upper Teesdale and graze over much of the open upland areas. Many of the other mammals of the Upper Dale are inconspicuous or nocturnal, such as roe deer, badgers and hedgehogs. Smaller mammals such as voles and mice are abundant, and bats.
The Dale has a large number of bird species recorded, many breeding, but most leave the area in winter, the notable exceptions being the two grouse species. Woodlands at lower altitudes have the expected mixture ofsmall birds breeding, including the smallest British bird, the goldcrest which has a preference for conifer plantations.
Many of the interesting vertebrates living in Upper Teesdale are dependent on numerous invertebrates for food and many of these are abundant, with over 1,400 species recorded. The abundance of the invertebrates cannot be exaggerated and in simple terms for each sheep seen on the uplands in summer, there are tens times their weight of invertebrates hidden in the soils. Some of these invertebrates are extremely rare elsewhere in England and several have been described as species new to science.
09
Freshwater Life
By Martyn G Kelly, Trevor D Crisp, Ben Lamb and Brian Whitton
Martyn Kelly PhD, environmental consultant specialising in the ecology of freshwater algae, Trevor Crisp PhD, (now deceased) formerly research scientist, Moor House National Nature Reserve, Ben Lamb, manager of the Tees River Trust, and Brian Whitton, Emeritus Professor of Botany, University of Durham, together provide a dive into the waters of the River Tees, its tributaries and features along the way.
Chapter Summary
Without the River Tees there would be no Teesdale and so, whilst much of the attention in this book is focussed on the plant and animal life in the fields and fells, we should not ignore either the river or the numerous tributary streams that feed it. Cow Green Reservoir, too, plays an important part in the story of Upper Teesdale, not just because of the ways in which it has altered the landscape and habitats in the upper valley, but also because the decision to impound the river precipitated many significant ecological studies and, ironically, raised the profile of the Teesdale rarities beyond a small band of botanical cognoscenti. Download Chapter in PDF
10
Conservation
By Stephen Trotter
Stephen Trotter is CEO of Cumbria Wildlife Trust, and formerly Director (England and Living Landscapes) Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, with a longstanding knowledge of Teesdale. He considers the special place that is Upper Teesdale and the challenges ahead for nature and conservation efforts.
Chapter Summary
This northern Pennine dale is by almost any measure a very special place. Upper Teesdale is amongst the most remote and relatively unspoilt places in England and has long been recognised as having some very special geological features, archaeological remains, unique habitats and celebrated wildlife. The mostcelebrated rare habitats and their suite of famous species largely persist as post-glacial survivals on the unique sugar limestone, rocky outcrops and limestone flushes. The Dale continues to be a tourist attraction and to excite scientific research, while providing a livelihood and home to thousands of people.
A plethora of conservation measures, particularly related to wildlife, has been applied over recent decades with some, but not universal, success. Conservation significance has always been high but in recent years its value and importance have grown even more against the wider context of the continuing trends of biodiversity decline almost everywhere else in the English Uplands. The only exceptions to this slow decline seem to be uplands where there has been a vision to restore habitats and species through recovery programmes. Where more sustainable methods have been implemented by farmers, land owners and land managers using their own resources and with help from agri-environment schemes, Non-Government Organisations (NGOs), some local authorities and occasionally funds from water companies, the trends of decline have been successfully reversed. Where resource and resolve have been applied, geological and archaeological conservation has also been successful.
The restoration of habitats and more natural processes in Upper Teesdale will increase resilience and adaptation to the uncertainties and extremes of a changing climate. Restored and natural peat bogs will retain their carbon stores and help to fix and lock-up more atmospheric carbon as well as becoming more wildlife-rich.
