A working party of eleven gathered at Crowhall Farm cattle grid today on a dull and windy but mild morning at do various path-maintenance jobs either side of the burn near the upstream meadow.
The most demanding puzzle of the day was how to straighten up the path on the north side which was sloping away into the burn. The answer, which involved a lot of work, was to (a) fix a recycled length of timber from somebody’s old patio along the river side of the path, (b) move soil from the up-slope to the down-slope to partially level things up, (c) extract some gravel from the river bed using spade and wheelbarrow to further level things up, and (d) top it off with some aggregate.
Photograph A. Levelling path
The aggregate was discovered under soil and vegetation on the south side by the footbridge. While three volunteers were working on the path repair itself, another two were extracting aggregate from under soil and weeds and wheelbarrowing it to the site.
The second task was an old favourite: the gully on the north bank of the river just downstream of the upstream wooden footbridge. This has had to be cleared out every year for many years. The gully runs down the steep slope of the dene to the footpath. Here it runs under the path in a narrow plastic culvert pipe into a sump, and the sump debouches into the Seaton Burn via another plastic pipe under the iron sewer.
These two sections of plastic culvert always seem to get bunged up with stones, twigs and leaves. Well, we cleared it out yet again – including a large stone that was hard to get out. So let’s hope it stays that way through the winter, otherwise the water will back up and there will be a puddle on the path.
Photograph B. Clearing gully
The third task was excellent exercise but not very intellectual stimulating: de-turfing the meadow path. The path, as originally laid, was about four feet wide but had reduced to perhaps eighteen inches by encroachment of the soil and vegetation on either side. We don’t know where the soil comes from – walkers’ boots? – oozing up through the gravel?
Anyway, the solution was to remove, using spades and mattocks, the soil and weeds from the fringes of the path and barrow it away to be dumped out of sight. We got pretty well the whole length of the meadow path cleared by the end of the task.
Photograph C. De-turfing path
Oh, and there was a fourth task: removing the plastic guard tubes from the trees in the upstream meadow. These were planted between 5 and 10 years ago and are growing well, despite being somewhat shaded by the trees above. They are mostly oaks, but in addition twelve wild service trees (Sorbus torminalis, rare in the North East) had also been planted and of those two (I think) have survived, one of them growing away well.
Photograph D. Removing tree guards
The wildlife was quiet again this morning, but here nevertheless are some observations made by the volunteers:
a speckled wood butterfly
a small flock of nine wild geese (greylags or pink-footed?) overhead
mole hills in various places, as usual
garden snails and other “creepy crawlies” hiding in the tree guards
a surprisingly large number of earthworms in the soil on the path
fungi (example shown)
Photograph E. Porcelain fungus (Oudemansiella mucida)
Finally, one of our team has taken up making telescopes; he says “things are looking up”. Feel free to groan!
A smaller than usual volunteer party turned out at the Wallridge Drive gas pumping station this morning, on a still and bright but chilly day.
The party divided into two groups of three. The first group tackled a couple of river blockages and the second did footpath maintenance including cleaning out the pathside sump.
The aforementioned river blockages can be seen in the pictures below. The first blockage consisted of a tree that had fallen into the river, and sorting that out involved putting on waders and getting into the burn with a chainsaw to remove branches, which were removed using the hand winch.
Photograph A. Blockage caused by falling tree
The second blockage was caused by a build-up of branches that had fallen in and floated downstream. These also were pulled out onto the river bank.
Photograph B. Blockage caused by fallen branches
A large amount of river litter was removed as part of this work.
Meanwhile, the second group worked on the feature variously known as the “pond” or the “sump” – a rectangular depression in the earth alongside the footpath at its lowest point. Its purpose is to serve as a place for water to go to when it rains – rather than ponding on the path. It’s linked to the path by a gully and has an overflow gully leading to the river.
It tends to get silted up and needs digging out every once in a while. That’s what we did today, after strimming away the tall nettles.
Photograph C. Sump after clearing out
After that, the second team concentrated on the familiar routine of reclaiming the footpath from encroaching vegetation, as recorded in earlier reports. The first group joined in this effort after completing their work around 11 a.m.
Photograph D. Restoring footpath
The wildlife scene was quiet, but we saw or heard:
a great spotted woodpecker
an inquisitive robin
various bird calls, including wren
mole hills and mole burrows, which came to light when digging out the sump
The seasons are turning quickly at this time of the year. It was quiet and sunny this morning but muddy under foot. The leaves have, on the whole, not changed colour yet or fallen – that is yet to come.
A good turnout of eleven volunteers assembled at Dene Cottage, Seaton Sluice estuary, today for a path maintenance session – on a brilliant autumn morning.
The main part of the task was cleaning out the gullies or ditches alongside the footpaths along the western side of the estuary. The high-level path and its flight of steps was also cleaned up.
Because a lot of water comes down the steep deneside slope, it is always a job to keep this path free of muddy puddles. However, we have a cunning plan: a ditch along the slope side of the path intercepts the water, which is then conveyed either over the path via a mini-ditch or under it via a French drain, then escorted to the river’s edge through ditches cut in the river bank. All these ditches tend to get clogged up with mud, leaves and weeds, and need cleaning out every year.
So, after wheelbarrowing tools from the van to the work site, we set to work with spades and rakes to get the gunk out of the gullies. Meanwhile one of us got the strimmer going and tidied the weeds along the path edge, while another two volunteers worked on removing detritus from the steps up the high-level path.
After a while, we all congregated for tea and/or coffee. It this point our chairperson and her dog came along with a pack of gingermen – much appreciated.
Photograph A. Having a tea break on a nice day
After the break, the team working on the high level path was augmented by another two volunteers, as the going was somewhat tougher than expected.
Photograph B. Clearing the high-level path steps
Meanwhile the main team just continued gully clearance, nearly reaching the sewer pipe that crosses the dene at the top end.
There was quite a lot of bird life to report today, as follows.
a little egret – all-white, long-legged bird stalking the salt marsh
redshanks and oystercatchers – wading birds
at least four mallard ducks and drakes
a grey wagtail flitting about on the water’s edge
robins, wrens, woodpigeons, rooks and black-headed gulls
a flock of wild geese overhead
Another, somewhat less welcome, wildlife phenomenon of the day was the swarms of midgies everywhere – the only flaw in an otherwise perfect day.
Fine weather greeted the eleven volunteers of the working party this morning – sunny, still and mild, although admittedly somewhat damp under foot.
The short version of the morning’s story is that we finished off clearing the drainage ditches on the west side of the estuary, plus other odd jobs. The longer version is as follows.
Having loaded up our wheelbarrows with tools and materials we marched along the estuary path from the van parked at Dene Cottage to about half-way up the estuary. Here two of us set about installing hand-rails either side of the path at a steep place near the side burn of “Bluebell Dene”. This involved digging post-holes, installing timber uprights and screwing hand-rails in place.
Photograph A. Installing handrails
Meanwhile the rest of the squad returned to last week’s labour of digging out the pathside ditches – which get congested with leaves and silt and need cleaning out, ideally every year. Spades and rakes were deployed, and the strimmer was used to clear some pathside vegetation.
Photograph B. Pathside ditch clearance
Later on, it was noticed that the stepping stones that lead across the marshy ground by the overhead pipe were disappearing under reeds. The strimmer was employed again to clear these from a one-metre strip either side of the path.
Another odd job that needed doing was clearing the gully on the other side of the wooden bridge at the head of the estuary. This entailed a bit of strimming again to clear away the vegetation that was obscuring the gully. A bit of spade-work did the rest.
Photograph C. Clearing east-side gully
Meanwhile the main ditch-clearing team was approaching the overhead pipe. Here several mini-ditches wend their way across the flat land between the path and the river. These also needed to be cleaned out, and the strimmer was used to open them up. The gully-cleaning rods were used to decongest the under-path gullies.
By the end of the session, we had reached the bench at the head of the estuary, so we happily trudged back down the estuary path to the van having completed yet another path maintenance task to keep Holywell Dene accessible to the public.
As usual at the estuary, there was some wildlife interest:
trees, especially beeches, in rich autumn colours
a heron, some (noisy) black-headed gulls and some piping redshanks
also grey wagtails, a singing robin and mallards on the river
Our chairperson and her dog arrived at breaktime with emergency supplies of biscuits. One of the topics of conversation was the recent coffee morning, which was very successful despite the cost-of-living crisis.
We have ordered 40 tonnes of aggregate for future use on the paths. This will be delivered in a week’s time to the various existing dump sites. The last 40-tonne load lasted six years. Watch this space for more on this topic.
A working party of nine gathered at the metal gate on Hartley West Farm road at the unusual time of 8:00 this morning to assist in the moving of 40 tonnes of aggregate. This was bought using part of the grant from Northumbrian Water, and will be used for path maintenance over coming years.
As the lorries were running a bit late it was decided that three volunteers would to go and collect fencing and posts for next week’s task and take them to where they will be needed. Meanwhile the rest of the party went to the four locations where the gravel was to be stored and cleared the access so we could get our trusty wheelbarrows in.
The locations where the gravel was to be stored were: beside the wooden bridge, near the stepping stones, in the meadow and by the Hartley Lane car park. When the first of the two lorries arrived, we saw the size of the task ahead of shifting that much gravel! Luckily part of the deal was to supply a digger and a dumper truck to help in relocating the gravel to where we were storing it.
Photograph A. Lorry dumps gravel
Photograph B. Gravel transferred to dumpster
We had first contacted the farmer who owns the private road and got his permission to drop the gravel on his road – as long as we kept the access clear. So, the operator of the digger and dumpster got to work transferring the gravel to the required locations.
Photograph C. Dumpster take gravel to storage site
When the second truck unloaded the rest of the gravel, we started to wheelbarrow gravel to its location in the meadow to speed up the operation. Luckily for us, it was downhill about 100 yards away. By this time the rest of the party had returned and we all mucked in regularly swapping between filling and pushing the wheelbarrows.
Photograph D. Barrowing gravel to meadow pile
By the end of the day everyone knew they had shifted 40 tonne of gravel!
A party of nine volunteers met at the Hartley Lane carpark at the normal time of 9:00 with three tasks to do – on a very mild day for the time of year. After loading up our trusty wheelbarrows with the required tools we set off for a morning’s work.
A team of two headed straight to the estuary area to clear some drains, one in the Millfield area and the other under the allotments just downstream from the new wooden bridge. A set of drain rods had to be used to clear these drains, and unfortunately it looked like one had been deliberately packed with mud. After the drains were cleared, the two returned to the main party who were doing two different tasks in the same area.
Photograph A. Mending fence
One of the tasks was to try and strengthen ten posts that were leaning over towards the path. To do this, two brave volunteers climbed over the fence and dug a hole behind each original post, then placed another shorter post behind each and attached the two together with extra-long screws. When the two posts were attached the hole was backfilled and then tamped down for strength. The two volunteers that climbed over had to be very careful where the placed their feet as they were standing on a small ledge of land and it was very overgrown and a trip hazard.
Photograph B. Willow weaving
Meanwhile the rest of the squad were tidying up the screen we made a while back out of willow beside the wooden seat just upstream from the new wooden bridge. It had grown quite a bit so we wove it by bending the willow wands over at 90 degrees between some new stakes that were cut down from nearby trees. This also helped clear some overhanging branches that were restricting headroom on the path. A couple of volunteers then took two wheelbarrows along to some of our stock of gravel and a quick repair of the path – which had sunk in parts – finished off the path, completing the job.
On the wildlife side, numerous mallards were spotted and the heron that is often spotted in that area made an appearance
Today’s work session was curtailed by foul weather – wind and rain – so only a short report is necessary.
Eleven of us turned out at the Crowhall Farm cattle grid on Hartley Lane. The plan was to clear a fallen tree branch and refurbish some steps. We managed to get the first of those done but the latter will have to wait.
Three of us set out with the chainsaw and other tools to the fallen branch near the top of the flight of steps up from the lower wooden footbridge. This was probably blown loose by one of last winter’s gales, but it had come down further and was a danger to the foreheads of people walking along the path, so had to be sorted.
Photograph A. Branch across path
We chopped the sub-branches off before finally severing the main branch. These were lopped up using a bow-saw and dragged away from the path. Job done.
Photograph B. After clearance
Meanwhile the main party attempted to start improvements to the small flight of steps that go steeply up to the high footbridge on the path west of the lay-by path – but the weather soon turned against us. There was a strong wind at that place, which is at the top edge of the Dene, and it was driving increasingly heavy rain in our faces.
It was decided therefore to give up on that and do path maintenance nearby instead. Spades were used to scrape off the mat of weeds encroaching on the path.
By the time the tree-branch clearance party had finished and got back to the bridge area, the rain was fairly heavy, so we packed it in. There wasn’t even time to get in a tea/coffee break today!
Photograph C. Getting ready to leave
A nine-strong volunteer working party met up at the Crowhall Farm cattle grid on Hartley Lane this morning to upgrade a small flight of steps. This was a muddy morning, but the predicted rain held off.
There were actually three activities today: installing the steps, transporting aggregate to the site and path maintenance.
The steps in question are the steep flight on the south dene-top path just east of the timber bridge over a little ravine that runs down to near the waterfall. Actually, this ravine is the former outflow gully for the water pumped out of the Success Pit by the Old Engine (now a low ruin).
The steps wind round a sycamore tree rather like a spiral staircase. They are also rather steep and difficult to navigate. So, we decided to do something about that: add a hand-rail, put in more steps, and upgrade the existing steps.
Photograph A. Upgrading steps
Everything about this job was difficult and fiddly. Holes had to be made in the ground for the handrail posts, but both roots and stones were encountered. The steepness and narrowness of the steps meant we were continually getting in each other’s way. Nevertheless the job got done.
Photograph B. Job done
The task of getting aggregate (“gravel”) to the steps – to finish off the treads of the steps – was made difficult by two factors: the distance from the gravel pile to the steps, and the fact that a large amount of gravel always seems to be needed for even a small job!
The procedure for procuring the gravel was roughly as follows. The van was driven along the farm lane and parked at the farm; wheelbarrows were wheeled from there to the pile of gravel, located by the gate that leads from the disused railway to the mountain-bike area; flexible buckets were filled with gravel and barrowed back to the van; the van was driven back to the cattle grid; the buckets of gravel were barrowed to the stile in the dene-top fence and passed over it; and finally the gravel was barrowed to the scene of the step-improvement work. Phew!
A number of interations of this procedure were necessary to get sufficient gravel to the site.
After this, the gravel team set to work on the dene-top path: spades, a mattock and a rake were used to remove the encroaching soil and weeds that were narrowing the path. We started this job last time out, and we will have to return to it again in future sessions.
Photograph C. Maintaining the path
Meanwhile the steps were finished off. And after that, not wishing to push our luck with the weather, we all went home.
Enjoy the new steps next time you’re walking that part of the Dene!
An impressive turn-out of thirteen volunteers met up at the metal farm gate on the Hartley West Farm access road today for a session of path and steps maintenance – on a dull, misty day with sticky mud on the ground after the early frost had melted.
Having loaded up the wheelbarrows with tools, we marched off down the path to the lower wooden footbridge. As you will know, at that point a long flight of steps runs up the south-bank slope towards the Hartley Lane layby. The objective was to clear away the dead leaves and mud that were clogging up those steps, and to restore the nearby paths to something like their original condition.
Photograph A. Steps before
The team split into two groups. One started work on the steps whilst the other went off up the south-bank path to continue last week’s path maintenance work there.
Photograph B. Cleaning steps
As part of the work, we replaced timber steps where they were found to be rotten.
Photograph C. Replacing woodwork
By the end of the session, we had cleared (a) the long flight of steps, (b) the path from layby to steps, (c) a length of path downstream of the steps and (d) a section upstream at the dene top.
Photograph D. Steps after
All that labour felt worth it when, late in the session, we were treated to a tray of hot steak pies, courtesy of a long-standing (four generations) local business: Nicholson & Son of Park View, Whitley Bay – a very welcome Christmas-season treat! Thank-you, Doug!
Photograph E. Steak pies
Five hardy volunteers met up for a post-Christmas workout on a cold but initially dry morning. The task today was to remove a tree from the river which came down almost a year ago (not Storm Arwen), located upstream from the stone bridge on Hartley West Farm road, near the stepping stones.
Photograph A. The fallen tree
After recent rains the water level was very high and running swiftly so today’s task was made more difficult by the fact that volunteers weren’t able to enter the water.
The method adopted was to secure a winch to a nearby tree, connect up the cable to the base of the fallen tree with strops and slowly pull it out of the river. As the tree was moved up the bank the chainsaw was deployed to cut it into smaller sections.
Photograph B. Operating the winch
Due to the size of the tree it was very slow, hard work initially but as more sections were cut off the task became easier until finally the river was clear. Smaller branches and debris were either swept away by the current or pulled out using a rope and grappling hook.
Photograph C. Chainsaw in action
As the last of the debris was removed light rain started to fall so we quickly packed up and had a slightly early finish.
A very inquisitive robin kept close to the work, this is possibly the same bird that has been hand-fed in the same location previously.
It was a mixed bag of winter tasks for the ten-volunteer working party this morning, on a fine sunny day but with lots of mud on the ground after the recent thaw.
(Incidentally, the last two Tuesday sessions were called off because of wet conditions on the first occasion and frozen ground on the second.)
Five of the volunteers went to clear a blockage in the river adjacent to the dipping pond. A logjam of branches and litter had built up under an overhanging tree.
Photograph A. Logjam
The first thing to decide was which side of the river to use. The river was running higher than expected due to the recent snow melt, so we chose the path side rather than the farmer’s field side, it being shallower there.
One of the team donned the waders and braved the very cold water only to discover, after a couple of minutes, that there was a small hole in them! At the end of the day, all we could do was to use a rake and a grappling iron and pull branches etc over to the edge, where it was pulled out.
Photograph B. Clearing it
We recovered numerous small dog balls, a car tyre, loads of plastic drinks bottles and two punctured footballs, all of which were taken to the bin in the nearby car park.
Meanwhile the other five volunteers were having even more fun. First we cleared the gully (or ditch) running steeply down from a field drain by Hartley West Farm to the river. This involved clearing brambles and other vegetation with loppers and secateurs, then digging out the ditch with spades. A puddle on the path below was drained by digging a small ditch to drain the water away.
Photograph C. Ditching
Next, we proceeded upstream along the north-bank path to the downstream wooden bridge, clearing under-path gullies as we went. For this we used a drain rod, which comes in sections that screw together, a bit like a chimney sweep’s rod. This was not an easy job, as the gully outlets were on the steep bank down to the river.
Photograph D. Path restoration
Next we set to work clearing the encroaching turf off the edges of the path that ramps up from the lower wooden bridge to the Silverhill bench. Spades, a mattock and a rake were used. Good exercise!
It was now nearly time to go home, so we returned to the van via the bridleway and lopped off some overhanging branches as we went.
Photograph E. Removing branches
We saw some familiar wildlife while we were working:
there seemed to be a robin watching us everywhere we went – looking for feeding opportunities
coal tits and blue tits were around
there was a noisy flock of jackdaws on the other side of the river
one of us heard a woodpecker calling
we came across a caterpillar with an orange-brown head and whitish body that had apparently decided not to become a chrysalis
finally, tawny owls are often heard by one of us on his early-morning walks
It’s good to get some outdoor exercise at this time of year, and it’s good to get back indoors again for a hot meal!
News Archive 2022 Oct-Dec
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