A NATURE lover is calling for an area of wet scrubland to be protected, days before the first phase of a multi-million pound regeneration scheme is due to be announced for the site.

Bryan Moore has written to Middlesbrough Council leader Councillor Ken Walker appealing for help, and he has promised to look into the matter.

Mr Moore, founder of the watchdog group, English Environment, said with 94 per cent of Teesside's wetland habitat already lost to land drainage and development, a pocket-sized haven for foraging wading birds and wildfowl near Middlesbrough Football Club's Riverside Stadium should be protected.

The area is part of the Middlehaven regeneration project, comprising massive mixed redevelopment of houses, shops and offices.

Mr Moore says there is an opportunity for Middlesbrough to live up to its title of Environment City by preserving the spit of land visited by water birds including heron, redshank, mallard and moorhen.

He said: "Most of our wetland on Teesside has disappeared and worldwide it is now one of the most endangered habitats.

"The creation of the River Tees barrage flooded about five miles of mudflat feeding areas and what is not being understood is the significance of these sites to wildfowl and wading birds."

Mr Moore has written to every member of Middlesbrough Council, trying to enlist their help in keeping developers off the spit of scrub on the Middlehaven site.

He said there was a chance for environmental as well as economic regeneration at Middlehaven, rather than the creation of another wildlife "graveyard".

Mr Moore said: "Although the bird numbers are small that they should be there at all is a sure sign of desperation in this busy but natural area, which has survived to date in the heart of Middlesbrough and offers refuge.

"With other suitable habitat fast disappearing these places are going to become even more important in the future. If we don't look after them now we will lose them forever."

English Partnerships, principal planners of the scheme, said there were no proposals for a nature reserve at Middlehaven "but there will be lots of green spaces"