Managing our sites and activities

Introduction

We plan and oversee the management of all of our sites.  Management plans are put together, often with input from external conservation organisations.  Many sites benefit from specially formed wildlife advisory committees that will be attended by representatives from organisations such as the Wildlife Trusts, Natural England, local interest groups and experienced volunteers.  

Where reservoirs are used as a source for our drinking water supplies, it is our policy to prohibit or strictly limit the use of chemicals such as herbicides and pesticides on our landholdings.  Traditional methods of land management such as cutting for hay and grazing are used.  This can be of great benefit to the wildlife with flowers such as adder’s tongue fern, orchids and yellow rattle doing particularly well on some of our sites.

Sites with facilities and conservation interest

Capital screening

This is the means by which Northumbrian Water appraises every engineering project to determine whether it may impact upon an area of conservation or archaeological interest.  The screening process is also utilised to identify the opportunities that such capital projects may create in terms of wildlife gain.  Screening of schemes such as the construction of a new sewage treatment works at Horden identified the necessary relocation and subsequent management of an area of Magnesian Limestone Grassland, whilst the de-commissioning of a sewage treatment works at Witton-le-Wear enabled the creation of a large reedbed in its place.  Pond construction has occurred at several sites and grassland, hedges and tree and shrub planting is now commonplace.

Wildlife surveys

To guide the conservation management of our sites we undertake a programme of wildlife surveys.  It is important to know what species and habitats are present on our sites, if any are protected and how we might benefit them.   We have already collected a large amount of information about the wildlife on our sites (link to biodiversity lists of species) and will continue surveying to keep this knowledge up to date. We commission local experts to undertake many of our surveys, but public visitors to sites are often the first people to see unusual species, especially birds that have recently arrived. We keep the records from logbooks in our bird hides which contain useful information.  

Here are some examples of the type of surveys we undertake:

• Botanical surveys at over 800 of our northern sites.
• Preliminary ecological surveys at all major southern sites.
• Wetland Bird Surveys (WeBS) at our reservoirs.
• Breeding bird surveys and bird ringing at a number of sites including Stokesley sewage treatment works, North Yorkshire and Abberton reservoir, Essex.
• Invertebrate surveys, for example at Derwent, Northumbria and Hanningfield, Essex.
• Amphibian surveys including Great Crested Newt surveys at Broken Scar water treatment works in Darlington.
• Small mammal surveys including Dormouse population monitoring at Hanningfield, Essex and bat surveys at the Trinity Broads, Norfolk.