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The South
Gare is a very interesting place. It is a man-made
breakwater which sticks out into the Tees estuary,
it was built about 100 years ago and it is made up
of thousands of tons of "slag" from the blast furnaces
of Teesside. The position of the Gare on the North
East coast makes it a good migration watching spot.
The slag also benefits the wildlife in this area, the
limestone content of the slag gives the area a base
rich soil. This has proved to be attractive for "lime
loving" plants to colonise the grassland and thin soils
near the end of the Gare and around the sand dunes.
This is one area of Teesside which has never been farmed
in any way and has not had herbicides sprayed on it.
The
mixture of estuary, scrub, grassland, rocks and shelter
has given the Gare the right ingredients for a good
migration watching spot. Although sea watching does
take place from the Gare, Hartlepool is actually better
for this as the sea birds pass closer to shore, nevertheless,
the Gare is quite good for sea watching if the conditions
are right. However, the main claim to fame for the
Gare is the "fall" migrants. During the spring and
autumn if the conditions are just right, the end of
the Gare can be covered with migrants such as Goldcrests,
Robins, Thrushes, and many other small birds. The limited
amount of shelter at the Gare means that the birds
are usually quite easy to locate when they arrive.
Many species seem to end up in the same places year
after year e.g, the "Shrike Bushes" these have held
many Red-Backed Shrikes over the years.
The
links at the bottom of the page give more detailed
information about the various habitats around the South
Gare.
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