Biodiversity

Since construction, plants and animals naturally began to inhabit the area. In 2004 TMUK created a strong Biodiversity Initiative, developed in partnership with the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust to protect and where possible, enhance the ecological value of the site, creating an onsite wildlife reserve. The site sits within the Trent Valley, a landscape formerly rich in wetland habitats and a major migratory route for birds in England.

In 2007 the nature reserve area became registered as a “Site of Biological Importance” with the Wildlife Trust and, in 2009, we became the first corporate partner to join the Trent Valley Initiative, which aims to create a rich diversity of linked wetland habitats along the river Trent from Stoke-on-Trent to the Humber Estuary, providing refuges for birds, mammals and insects to breed and seek shelter on their passage through the region.

As part of TMUK’s continuing commitment to sustainability and biodiversity, we are working closely with the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust to try and re-introduce breeding Ospreys into the Trent Valley. Ospreys were once abundant in the East Midlands and across the UK until their near eradication in the early 20th century with populations declining drastically in the 1950s and 1960s.

Teams of our employees volunteered to make and install nesting platforms, here at the Toyota Balancing Lakes and at other Trust reserves across the Trent Valley.  The teams dedicated their own time to design, build and erect the nesting platforms and bird-perches.  The materials, including 9m (30ft) telegraph poles, were donated or sourced from local suppliers and the platforms installed on the reserves.  The osprey nests were constructed by weaving together hundreds of sticks and the nests placed on the platforms.

It is hoped that the nesting platforms will encourage ospreys from the established breeding population at Rutland Water to visit the Trent Valley Reserves, as the platforms are the same as the ones where they were raised.  In time, a young male may make a home here and eventually attract a female to breed.