News Archive 2023 Apr-Jun
Nine volunteers met on the access road to Hartley West Farm on a bright sunny but cold morning. A heavy frost was lingering on the meadow adjacent to the stone bridge which soon burnt off as the sun rose.
The task this week was to continue with the willow weaving and planting upstream from the stone bridge. Initially, however, two volunteers carried out some pruning of an oak tree in the meadow which had been badly damaged in a storm some time ago. This was carried out using the pole chainsaw donated by Northumbrian Water as part of their grant last year.
Meanwhile the rest of the volunteers were split into two groups. Those on the south side were cutting willow whips to weave into barriers to prevent dogs eroding the river banks while the other group continued weaving the overgrown willows on the north bank. Hopefully in time this will stabilise the river banks and prevent erosion.
Photograph A. Willow barrier
Photograph B. Overgrown willows – before
Photograph C. Overgrown willows – after
Wildlife notes:
The first butterfly of the year was spotted today – a peacock.
The birds were singing actively again.
A nine-volunteer working party met up at Dene Cottage, Seaton Sluice, to do path work at the south-west end of the estuary today. The weather was clear and sunny but cold.
The path maintenance work was simply a continuation of last week’s work, so please see that week’s report for details. In addition to the path work three volunteers cleared the steep steps up from the pipe pond.
Here are some photos to illustrate what was done.
Photograph A. Restoring path
Photograph B. Replacing edging board
Photograph C. Steps after cleaning
We will be back next week to, hopefully, finish the job.
The working party was unusually small this morning: just six of us – thanks to holiday trips, health problems, etc. The meeting place was Dene Cottage and the task was path maintenance again. It was quite a pleasant spring day, but there was a chilly breeze off the North Sea.
After the usual pre-session chit-chat, off we set with our borrows full of spades, saws, a mattock, a rake, a pinch bar, etc – and it was quite a trek to the head of the estuary where the work was to take place. The main job was replacing edging boards along the side of the path, but we also did a bit of clearing of the gullies that drain water away from the path and into the burn.
The work involved:
removing old boards and stakes
preparing old fence timber for use as new edging boards by removing nails and trimming away rotten bits
making stakes by sawing up lengths of timber and cutting them to a point
digging out the pathside gully
putting new boards in place
hammering stakes in and screwing to the boards
back-filling with aggregate/soil
Photograph A. Path maintenance
Quite a few walkers, mostly with dogs, passed us by, usually exchanging a few words. One small group were doing some litter-picking – they were from a charity called Nightstop which provides emergency accommodation for homeless people. Well done!
Wildlife:
several redshanks were foraging around the water’s edge along the estuary, as usual, occasionally taking to the air and vocalising
birdsong included chaffinch, chiffchaff, blackcap, great tit, dunnock, jackdaws, wren, woodpigeon, carrion crow, etc
the pathside vegetation is growing, the celandines are still flowering (yellow) and there are lots of dandelions in bloom
By the way, the bridge over the Bluebell Dene burn has been replaced by the Council (or their contractors) – see photo.
Photograph B. New bridge (not our work).
There was a good turnout of ten volunteers today for a morning of ivy removal. Although the day started very cold and windy it had warmed up considerably by noon – but still windy.
The venue was Milbourne Arms, Holywell, and the work took place along the Seaton Burn upstream of the road bridge. Ivy is a native species with a variety of conservation benefits, but it is in danger of getting out of hand in some parts of the dene. It climbs up trees and increases the risk they will fall down across paths and into the river, especially in winter.
What we do is simply to cut a length out of the stem of the ivy as it climbs up the trunk of the host tree. That kills off the ivy plant, which drops out of the tree, bit by bit, over time.
Photograph A. Controlling ivy
For once, we did not split into groups, but instead moved as a team slowly upstream in the southern side of the river, from the road bridge to the small round field in a loop of the river.
It was slow going. Many of these trees had numerous ivy stems growing up them, some of them clinging closely to the tree bark. But, with ten of us at work, we got a lot of them done before home time. There are still many ivy-clad trees in the Dene, however!
Wildlife:
moles are rarely seen but their mole-hills are common in the Dene
a pair of mallard took off from the river while we were working; they are probably nesting by the river somewhere
chiffchaffs were singing and a blackcap was heard in a couple of places, as were robins, a song thrush, great tits and a wren
a sparrow hawk was spotted by one of the team
a seven-spotted ladybird – the common sort – was also seen
lesser celandines (yellow flowers), wood anemones (white) and other spring flowers were in bloom; coltsfoot was still flowering (seemingly late this year) and lots of dandelions were flowering (seemingly early); and finally an early example of a bluebell was showing
Photograph B. Blackthorn blooming (white) by path
A working party of ten gathered at Dene Cottage today at nine o’clock to continue the path improvement work in the south-western part of the estuary area, on a dull, chilly early-May day.
The work was very similar to that of the last two outings, so it won’t be necessary to describe it in detail. The old edging boards were dug out and new ones put in. Recycled timber was used (including material from one of the volunteers’ old fence). Stakes were inserted to retain the boards and secured with screws. And the gully alongside the path was cleared out.
With ten volunteers present, with the practice obtained on the earlier two sessions, and with the aid of a small battery-powered circular saw for making new stakes, we made excellent progress and, and replaced the edging boards along one side of the path for a considerable stretch.
Photograph A. Replacing edging boards
So: hopefully, fewer muddy puddles on the estuary path.
The wildlife scene was a bit subdued because of the weather, but the birds were nevertheless singing well and some flowers were showing. Here are some of the highlights.
Singing: blackcap, whitethroat, chiffchaff, song thrush, blackbird, coal tit, wren, goldfinch, etc.
Other birds: pheasant, mallard.
Flowers: red campion, greater stitchwort, lesser celandine, dog violet, English scurvy grass.
Other plants growing rapidly by the paths: dock, grasses, cow parsley, hogweed, stinging nettles, goosegrass.
No redshanks were seen on the estuary, which unusual; they have probably flow off to the moors to nest.
Photograph B. The estuary scene
The magnificent seven volunteers of Holywell Dene sallied forth today on a mission to restore the condition of the paths at Seaton Sluice estuary – on a fine and warm day.
We started off by clearing out the side-gully of the low-level path in the middle section of the west side of the estuary. While doing this we also cleared the dead leaves and other detritus out of several of the wandering gullies that direct water from the path across the river bank to the burn.
Photograph A. Clearing gully
This having been accomplished, we took on the challenge of refurbishing the high-level path in the same area. This has steps that need cleaning, and suffers from the problem that soil tends to drift down the slope and onto the path.
Photograph B. Cleaning high-level path
Spades and mattocks were the tools of choice today. This was the warmest day this year so far, and it was warm work indeed! For this reason, we broke off and trudged back to the van early – although by the time we had wheelbarrowed the tools back and loaded them into the van is was about 12:30 – our standard departure time.
Photograph C. Improved steps
There was quite a lot of wildlife interest today, including:
singing: blackbird, wren, whitethroat, blackcap, greenfinch, goldfinch, chiffchaff, chaffinch
other birds: pheasant, herring gulls, woodpigeons, jackdaw, rooks, black-headed gulls
a pair of mallard ducks with five fluffy, hyperactive chicks attracted a lot of attention
butterflies: several orange-tips (or was it just one flitting about?), a likely speckled wood, a red admiral
a yellow-and-black 22-spot ladybird (Psyllobora vigintiduopunctata) alighted on one of our volunteers
flowers: red campion, herb robert, dandelions, lesser celandines, etc
We may or may not be back to the estuary next week. The pathside vegetation is growing vigorously, so sooner or later we will have to start our usual annual verge-strimming operations.
The nine volunteers who turned up at Hartley Lane car park this morning were lucky with the weather: it was warm and sunny and the rain clouds were only just gathering as we packed up. The nine included a new team member, by the way – welcome!
This was the first strimming session of the year. We will be strimming path verges – and some areas infested with bracken etc – more-or-less continuously through the summer months. Today, we started at the new wooden bridge at the head of the estuary and worked from there up to the car park.
Photograph A. Strimming
Photograph B. Result
There were lots of walkers out today, and one horse rider. If you happen to see us out strimming on Tuesday mornings, take care. We take all the necessary safety precautions, but it always helps if the general public take take some elementary precautions as well. In particular, your dog should be kept on a lead when going past strimmers, so always take its lead.
There was not much wildlife interest to report due to the noise, but it was noticed that there were several birds in the heronry.
A working party of ten volunteers enjoyed a sunny day in the estuary area of Seaton Sluice, where sycamore control and path maintenance were the main activities.
We all met up outside Dene Cottage near Seaton Sluice harbour and, after some chatter and loading up of wheelbarrows, walked up the path along the western side of the estuary. The half of the party split off and started tackling sycamores, while the other half continued up to where the High Path departs from the riverside path via a flight of steps with a hand-rail.
Sycamore control consists of pulling up sycamore seedlings and saplings, and cutting the lower branches off mature sycamore trees. The idea is to stop this non-native, rather invasive, tree from spreading too much in the woodland. Loppers and secateurs were the main tools; also a long-handled saw for reaching up to branches. This work is made more difficult by the fact that the trees grow on the steep slope that runs alongside the estuary.
The path maintenance activity was simply a continuation of the work on the High Path that we started on 9th May. Spades, mattocks and rakes were used to widen and level the path. Ivy and moss were removed from the wooden hand-rail on the down-slope side of the path.
Photograph A. Maintaining the path
Photograph B. Recovering from maintaining the path
Wildlife:
many of the familiar woodland birds were singing
many of the usual woodland flowers are out
a heron was seen in flight
the usual black-header gulls were squawking away as usual
the nest of a dunnock (small woodland bird) was discovered
Photograph C. Dunnock’s nest
A very small party of five turned up on Wednesday at the gas pumping station on Wallridge Drive this week. The reason we had to wait until a Wednesday was that we had no fuel for the strimmers, and the soonest we could get some was Tuesday hence we organised to go out on Wednesday.
The first job was to clear the vegetation around the seat at Dale Top, then work down the concrete steps. Working upstream we progressed along the path back to the gas pumping station, then went up the path towards the bridleway.
Photograph A. Strimming and pruning trees
We made good time, so it was decided to clear the path down towards the bridge behind Concord House and a bit of the path on the south side of the burn where there is a sharp bend – which is dangerous when bicycles come round at high speed!
We packed up at the usual time, loaded up the van and headed home for a shower as, even though it wasn’t sunny, it was humid and we got really hot wearing all the safety gear we have to wear while strimming.
The magnificent seven rode again, meeting up at Hartley Lane car park on an overcast day for a morning of strimming in the area from the dipping pond to the stone bridge on Hartley West Farm road.
Four volunteers were operating strimmers and the other three were raking the cuttings up. The warning signs were put up at either end of the stretch we wanted to cut back, and off we started.
The path down to the dipping pond was soon cleared, so the main body of strimmers concentrated on area-strimming of the patch of waste land adjacent to the pond, while one strimmer and one raker went to the bridge and worked back towards the main party. We don’t normally cut this area this soon in the year but we are trying something new – hoping the bracken, which usually takes a hold in this area, will not be as bad later on in the season if cut back now.
Photograph A. Strimming – note the high vegetation!
Photograph B. After area strimming
The area we wanted to clear was cut back in time for us to start work on the mount behind the dipping pond, which was a bonus.
Unfortunately no wildlife was noted today, probably because of the noise of the strimming machines
A hot sunny day greeted the ten volunteers of the working party this morning, and the mission today was, as usual, strimming the verges – and we got a lot done.
The morning’s work is easily summarised: we started strimming at the stone bridge near the Hartley Lane carpark and strimmed all our way up the low-level north-bank path almost all the way to the downstream wooden bridge at the foot of the steps down from the layby. Half of the party were strimming and half were clearing up the cut vegetation using rakes and pitchforks.
While this was going on, we also trimmed back overhanging branches, for the convenience of users of the Dene.
Photograph A. Strimming
We had four brushcutters (heavy strimmers) in use today. They are petrol driven, and we have to carry several 5-litre plastic canisters of fuel with us. We use about 15 to 20 litres a session, and the cost of petrol is currently about £1.40 a litre, so a session costs about £20–£25 for fuel alone. Northumberland County Council picks up the tab, fortunately (as well as paying for the annual maintenance of the strimmers) which is only just, as we are doing work they would otherwise have to do.
By the way, please remember that our strimmers are powerful and have cutting blades, so keep yourself and your dog safe if you happen to be in the Dene on Tuesday mornings. Best to put the dog on a lead whilst going past a strimming party. Here’s the warning sign we put at either end of the section of path where we are working.
Photograph B. Warning sign
The following wildlife was spotted (or heard) during and immediately after the session):
- robins, wren, goldfinches, great tit, blackbird, chiffchaff, whitethroat, rooks, jackdaws – there’s less birdsong now that nesting is about over
- red admiral butterfly, also orange tip and (?) large white
- wide-bodied chaser (adult male), hunting over the dipping pond – an electric blue dragonfly with a wide body
- yellow flag irises still in flower around the pond
- dames’ rocket (Hesperis matronalis) – banks of white/violet blooms on tall stems
- quite a lot of flies!
The dry conditions do not seem to have caused any yellowing of the vegetation. In fact it all looks very lush and fertile. Some rain is needed, but let’s hope it’s not too much in one go!
With fuel running out, and people feeling hot and tired, we trekked back to the van, loaded up our strimmers and other tools and drove off – until next week.
The working party of ten volunteers met up at Millfield in Seaton Sluice for a morning’s strimming on the eastern side of the estuary, on an initially dry and warm day.
Four strimmers were in use. The party split into two groups, one of which proceeded down the steep footpath from the Dene top to the estuary level, while the other went further down the estuary and started work there. Warning signs were deployed, as usual. Strimmed vegetation was raked up, as usual, and placed in piles out of the way.
Photograph A. Strimming at the estuary
One of us, equipped with a hedge trimmer and loppers, trimmed back the overhead branches.
Photograph B. Trimming overhead branches
By the end of the day, we had strimmed all of the east-side path from the wooden bridge at the head of the estuary right down to St. Paul’s Church as well as the Millfield access path.
Wildlife:
a little egret was seen in flight
also a kestrel on the wing
herons were making their noisy presence felt at the heronry
Light rain started around 11 o’clock. By noon it was quite heavy so, since it was time to pack up and go home anyway, we drudged back up the – now muddy –path to Millfield, put the tools in the van and departed.
Strimming was the order of the day again for the nine volunteers who turned up at the rendezvous on the Hartley West Farm road this morning. The weather was warm, overcast and muggy, with rain threatening put only expressing itself as occasional drizzle.
The sweep today was along the path we call the M1 – the dene-top path from Silverhill (at the top of the ramp path from the lower wooden bridge) to below Hartley West Farm. We started at the eastern end of M1, where it descends to the riverside path, and progressed westward to Silverhill and beyond.
Four strimmers were in use, meaning four two-person teams consisting of a strimmer and a raker – one to cut the pathside vegetation and the other to clear up the cuttings. The odd volunteer of the nine used a hedge trimmer and a pair of loppers to trim overhead trees and encroaching shrubs.
Photograph A. Strimming
Photograph B. Strimming and trimming
Wildlife observed (before the strimmers got going):
seen: bullfinch
heard: blackcap, chiffchaff, blackbird, song thrush, pheasant, jackdaws, magpie, woodpigeons, etc
the hogweed is now flowering in bulk – a tall white umbelliferous flower
We had two refreshment breaks: at ten and eleven o’clock – much needed on a sweltry day like this one. By the time twelve o’clock came around we were all feeling a bit drained. By the time we had walked back to the van and loaded it up with the strimmers and other tools it was 12:30 and time to go home.
As ever, listen out for the buzz of our strimmers on Tuesday mornings and take suitable precautions, including keeping your dog on its lead while passing the strimmers. We put out warning triangle signs on the path on either side of where we are working as a further precaution.
P.S. We achieved the position of runners-up in our category in the LOVE Northumberland 2023 awards, and in connection with that four of us attended the awards ceremony at Alnwick Castle recently – “afternoon tea with the Duchess of Northumberland”. Read more about this in our forthcoming autumn newsletter.
Photograph C. Volunteers receiving award
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