News Archive 2023 Jul-Sep
Six volunteers gathered at Dene Cottage this morning for another strimming session, on a rather stiflingly warm day – although the rain held off until after the session.
Three strimmers were in use, and of course each was accompanied by someone with a rake or pitchfork. There was no one to operate the hedge trimmer, so removal of overhanging branches could only be done by limited, improvised means (i.e. pulling bits off by hand).
We nevertheless managed to make good progress. If you venture down the western side of the estuary, you will see that we have cleared the verges right the way down from Dene Cottage at the harbour end to a point between the wooden bridge that crosses the side burn and the overhead pipe.
Photograph A. Strimming
We were accompanied today by a photographer, Max, who – in addition to his usual work at weddings etc – is embarking on a project to depict Holywell Dene in photographic form. No doubt you will have the opportunity to see the results in due course – and we’re all hoping we don’t look too old in them!
Photograph B. Photographer photographed photographing strimmer
Volunteer numbers always tend to reduce during the holiday season, but perhaps numbers will be up next week. Watch this space to see!
The big fallen branch that was blocking the steep path down from Millfield (a street in Seaton Sluice) to the estuary has now been cleared.
This was reported to us a couple of days earlier, when we were strimming the west side of the estuary, but we didn’t have the right kit with us at the time. So, an emergency session was hastily arranged for today (Thursday) and four of us turned out for that.
Photograph A. Preparing for clear-up
Two of us chopped up the branch with chainsaws while the other two cleared the cut materials away from the path. In fact, we had two ordinary chainsaws and a long-handled one with us. The latter (once we got it started) was useful for cutting up higher-up branches. One of the volunteers was an infrequent attender (because of shift work) but brought very useful chainsaw skills to the job.
Photograph B. End result
It was all over in 30 minutes! Our chairperson came to visit the scene at 9:30 and was surprised to find that it was all over.
You now have a nice clear descent from Seaton Sluice village down to the popular dog-walking area round the estuary!
A small but perfectly formed working party of seven volunteers set forth to strim the verges along the carpark-to-estuary path today, on a warm, brightish but rather muggy morning.
We had only three strimmers in operation, plus a hedge trimmer. Having unloaded the van, we marched down from Hartley Lane carpark to the wooden footbridge at the head of the estuary. We then started strimming back towards the carpark. Cut vegetation was raked up, as usual, and overhead branches were pruned, as usual.
Photograph A. Strimming
Well before noon, we had reached the carpark, so it was decided to go home, having achieved what we had set out to do.
Photograph B. Result
Despite the noise of the strimmers, we picked up a few wildlife sights (and sounds):
several mallard on the river
a woodpecker heard
chiffchaffs and a dunnock singing
a kestrel and at least one curlew flew overhead
a red admiral butterfly was seen
We will likely be back to strimming next week, but there is also some Himalayan balsam (an invasive plant) to sort out.
Warning. Hartley Lane is being resurfaced. The Earsdon end was blocked off this morning while the Hartley end was open to allow vehicles to access the Beehive Inn. The job is likely to take several days – so take that into account in your journey planning.
A good-sized working party of eleven volunteers turned out at Seghill this morning for strimming and balsam-bashing duties.
Holywell Dene, as far as we are concerned, extends upstream from the Holywell road bridge to the hump-back bridge near Newburgh Avenue, and even upstream from there as far as Seghill. The old Seghill landfill site is there, and it is still managed by Suez, who have a recycling and recovery centre at the end of a lane off from the A190 Delaval-to-Seghill road. It was to there that we walked, having parked by the A190, before splitting into two groups.
The first group proceeded down the footpath from the Suez site to the humpback bridge with strimmers, with the objective of opening up the footpath by clearing the overgrown verges and trimming the overhead branches. Three people were strimming and three raking. The team leader joined them later with the hedge trimmer to cut back the branches encroaching on the path.
Photograph A. Strimming path verges
Meanwhile the other five volunteers were seeking and destroying that invasive weed called Himalayan balsam (see photo). This is in danger of infesting the river banks in Holywell Dene from places upstream – its seed gets carried downstream from places like the old Seghill Nature Reserve.
Photograph B. Himalayan balsam (pretty but highly invasive!)
The reserve is near the Suez site. It was established years ago but has not caught on and has gone wild. It used to be badly infested with balsam, but we have brought it under control by balsam-pulling in past years. The weed is still present however. Today’s job was to pull out as many of them as possible before they seed.
Easier said than done! The undergrowth on the site is head-high! There are brambles, nettles, thistles, briars, willows and reeds. Fortunately there were not many biting insects – which can be a problem in wetland places.
We managed to remove several hundred Himalayan balsam plants today, but there are still many left. A strimmer was used, and also the hedge trimmer, in places where there was a high concentration of balsam plants.
On the wildlife front, it has to be said that the old nature reserve, despite being abandoned, has a fantastic show of flora. It just seems a pity that there are not lots of butterflies and bumblebees to pollinate them. Other highlights (such as they were):
a reed warbler (probable) in the reeds close to one of our volunteers
a family of blackbirds in the old reserve, including a couple of fledglings, who were indignant at our presence
a few moths but surprisingly few other insects
There was always a risk of rain this morning, and sure enough, by 11:30 it was getting started. We began to round ourselves up and return, with all the tools, to the van at this point, departing in our various vehicles sometime after 12:00, having accomplished quite a lot on a day when rain always threatened to stop play.
A working party of nine met today at the entrance to Crowhall Farm on the B1325 Hartley Lane. The theme was – as usual – strimming.
Now, we had been notified that Hartley Lane was closed off at the Earsdon end for resurfacing work, and we were baffled at first as plastic bollards had also been placed across the road at the Seaton Sluice end, shutting the whole road down. Fortunately, however, the latter were removed for us to pass through when we explained were we were working; the road works were nearer the Bee Hive pub.
Four sets of strimmers and rakers and one person with the hedge trimmer set off across the farmer’s field to the top path on the south side of the Dene. We cleared the path from the wooden bridge near the upper meadow to the top of the steps which lead down to the next wooden bridge downstream.
Photograph A. Strimming
Photograph B. Cleared footpath
There wasn’t a lot of foliage to cut back with the hedge trimmer so we soon switched that person to the raking side, as was extremely heavy work with all the rain we have had lately. This lightened the load for the other rakers.
The weather conditions were extremely uncomfortable to work in, as it was very sticky and there was an unusually large number of flies. So, we kept the breaks short because we were covered with these unwanted guests flying from one person to another – nobody was spared.
As it happened, we finished a little bit earlier than normal so off we went back to the tools van to brush down the tools before stashing them in the van. At this point the heavens opened, so it was a rush to our cars to get home for a hot shower and a bit of lunch.
By the way, four Himalayan balsam plants were found and dealt with.
Tree clearance and strimming were the tasks facing the working party of eight volunteers this morning. This was a dull day; not rainy, but the paths were very muddy from recent rain.
The meeting place was the metal gate on the Hartley West Farm road. From here, we walked with our gear up to the stepping stones, where we crossed to the south bank – having first tried to cross at a more convenient place upstream, which turned out to be unfordable because of the high river level.
A squad of four proceeded to the fallen willow that has been blocking the south-bank path between lower footbridge and stepping stones for several days. This was soon dealt with, using chainsaw and brawn: the fallen branches were cut off and dragged clear of the path.
Photograph A. Fallen willow
Photograph B. Tree clearance
Photograph C. Path clear
Meanwhile, the rest of the team formed themselves into pairs consisting of one strimmer and one raker and proceeded to strim the south-bank path verges. Later, after the tree had been dealt with, the tree squad also joined in the strimming affort so that we had four strimmers going by the end.
Photograph D. Strimming
So, today we have managed to strim the south-side path from the downstream wooden footbridge down to the side waterfall.
During the session, about six Himalayan balsam plants were spotted on the river banks. These attractive but invasive alien plants were removed to keep Holywell Dene looking its natural best.
The working party mustered ten volunteers for strimming in mid-dene this morning, so we might have had five strimmers going, but one of us was late (me, tch!) so it had to be four. The day was dull, dank and warm – so not very pleasant; also very muddy under foot.
Photograph A. Strimming verges
There’s not a lot to report, but you will be pleased to know that we pushed back the path-side and overhead vegetation in the following areas:
along the top north-side path either side of the Silverhill seat
down the ramp path from the seat to the lower footbridge
upstream and downstream from the lower footbridge along the north bank
Photograph B. Trimming shrubs
Remember, we are out strimming almost every Tuesday morning at this time of year, so if you hear the buzz of our strimmers, watch out and keep your dog on a lead when you go past.
Meggie’s Pond was the venue for a special working party session today (Thursday).
We had received a request via one of our volunteers that a popular fishing spot required our help. Blyth Freshwater Angling Club, which are based at South Newsham Reservoir, locally known as Meggies Pond, wanted help with their problem of encroaching vegetation.
Five volunteers met up beside the Blyth Links Cemetery on the A193, the road that links Seaton Sluice and Blyth. We had to wait until everyone was present as the approach track up to the pond is gated, so we all went in together as it’s a fair way up a single track to the car park.
Photograph A. Meggie’s Pond
Two members of the fishing club joined to help us and after a quick safety talk – reminding us the edge of the pond falls away very quickly – we unloaded three strimmers from our van and off we went. A usually quiet area was soon humming to the sound of strimming. The path around the pond needed cutting and the steps to each of the anglers’ wooden platforms needed clearing.
It was soon discovered that the trees and bushes on the path around the pond needed cutting back so we had to get the hedge-cutter out and trim back the overhanging branches. When the task was completed we were grateful for the promise of a donation to our funds from the angling club.
Strimming in hot conditions was the working party’s lot this morning. Eight of us gathered at the Old Hartley carpark at 9:00, as usual. Four strimmers were readied and off we went – four with strimmers and four with rakes and pitchforks.
The first objective was to strim path verges in that area. Then, having stimmed all the paths between the carpark and the stone bridge, we started work on the bracken areas. Area strimming of bracken-infested areas is done every year to keep the bracken under control.
Photograph A. Strimming verges
Photograph B. Strimming and raking the bracken areas
Unfortunately, although this treatment has prevented the bracken from encroaching on other areas, it has not really reduced the area affected. Perhaps we need to try something else. (Feel free to make suggestions via the Contact page on our website.)
There was little to report on the wildlife front, because the noisy strimmers are a bit offputting to nature. But a red admiral butterfly was spotted and when we jumped the fence to pull up some Himalayan balsam plants by the side of the burn, we disturbed a moorhen, which made indignant noises.
On the balsam front, we have got this invasive river-bank weed on the back foot this year, and only a few plants have appeared. We have tried to remove them before seeding. We have also been busy removing them from upstream reservoirs such as the abandoned nature reserve near the old Seghill landfill and the side burn just downstream from Holywell road bridge. The weather has meant that balsam has put on a sudden growth spurt and is now seeding in many places.
We all trekked home rather hot, sweaty and tired today, after three hours working under the sun. Watch this space for future developments.
A Bat and Moth event was held in Holywell Dene for members on 20th July. David Howdon kindly came along to set up moth traps, and Nic Faulks of the Northumberland Bat group attended to help us identify different species of bat with the help of her detectors.
David set up a number of moth traps at various locations in the Dene, and he also caught as many moths as possible using a net. The traps were kept running until 1am and the results were as follows:-
Dusking - ie generally walking around after dark
Emmelina monodactyla (Common Plume) x1
Anania hortulata (Small Magpie) x1
Patania ruralis (Mother of Pearl) x2
Agriphila straminella x2
Idaea dimidiata (Single-dotted Wave) x1
Idaea biselata (Small Fan-footed Wave) x5
Opisthograptis luteolata (Brimstone Moth) x1
Eilema griseola (Dingy Footman) x2
Mythimna impura (Smoky Wainscot) x2
Lamp and Sheet trap
Scoparia pyralella x1
LED trap at grid reference NZ336753
Carcina quercana x3
Idaea aversata ab. remutata (Riband Wave [non-banded form]) x1
Campaea margaritaria (Light Emerald) x1
Eilema lurideola (Common Footman) x1
Actinic light trap at grid reference NZ336755
Idaea dimidiata (Single-dotted Wave) x1
Eilema lurideola (Common Footman) x1
Mythimna impura (Smoky Wainscot) x3
15 different species were captured
29 individual moths were captured
Generally this was a pretty poor catch for July, but David thought that this was more to do with the wet weather than anything specific about the site or its management. When we held this event back in July 2012 on a much drier evening, 77 different species were recorded, and 235 individual moths.
Members were also given the opportunity to go bat spotting using the ultrasound detectors that Nic had brought with her. She gave some very interesting information on the species of bat normally found in England.
During the evening four species of bat were definitely identified:-
Common Pipistrelle (Common pipistrellus)
Soprano Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pygmaeus)
Daubenton’s (Myotis Daubentonii)
Noctule (Nyctallis nyctallis)
The weather for this event was very poor, as it had been raining throughout the day and cool in the evening, but members who came along were amazed at the variety of species to be found in such a small area of woodland.
Finally, the Committee of FoHD would like to thank David and Nic for making this such an enjoyable and instructive evening.
The working party session was a match of two parts today: one on the south bank near the Holywell old bridge and the other on the north bank between Dale Top and the Wallridge Drive gas pumping station.
One sub-party of four volunteers met at the Milbourne Arms to finish strimming from the Holywell old bridge along the path on the south side of the dene. They experienced a steady flow of walkers as the weather was ideal to get your walking boots on. It didn’t take long to strim to where we left off the other week, so they packed the van with the tools and went to where the other sub-party were working, to help out.
Photograph A. Strimming
The second sub-party started strimming from Dale Top (Holywell) and kept on going steadily westwards along the north-bank path, then up the ramp path to the gas pumping station on Wallridge Drive. They encountered only one dog-walker, so disruption to local life was minimal.
The conditions were very benign, with late-summer sunshine filtering through the treetops, and with very little mud (which we hate) under foot.
On one of the hottest days of the year, a working party of seven volunteers met up at the entrance to the water pumping station near Holywell to continue the great 2023 strimming project.
The initial part of the session was spent tidying up the hedges and overhead trees along the rather closed-in footpath between the pumping station and the hump-back bridge. Here, a hedge trimmer and a long-handled chainsaw were used.
Once that was over, we had three people using strimmers to strim the path edges and four with rakes and pitchforks to clear away the cut material. By the end of the session we had got all the way along the bridleway to the stile that gives access to the high path among the trees.
A minor side-task was to prune the oak saplings we earlier planted along the field side of the bridleway. These were a bit scruffy in shape and needed their lower twigs removing with secateurs to form a better-defined trunk.
Photograph A. Strimming, raking and pruning
We were all rather hot and tired after three hours working in the sun (with partial shade), so off we went back to the van, loaded up our tools and dispersed to our homes to cool off and have some refreshments.
By the way, as usual, we had our warning triangles out, and as usual the advice, if you come across us on a Tuesday morning, is to stay well clear of the strimmers especially of you have a dog.
P.S. We have a Facebook page – set up by another group of supporters. It’s a good place to discuss issues related to the Dene. Just type “Facebook Friends of Holywell Dene” to find it.
We had a turn-out of seven volunteers for another session of strimming and trimming today, this time at the estuary.
We met up at two venues. The first group, of four, met at St Paul’s Church in Seaton Sluice and proceeded to strim the path leading down to the road bridge and the adjacent steps down to the burn, then the steep path up to the houses and finally the usual east-side path.
Photograph A. Getting the strimmer started
Photograph B. Strimming
The other group, of three, met at the end of Millfield (which is a street in Seaton Sluice) and started strimming around the seat at the head of the estuary, working back towards the Millfield path.
On the corner just before the Millfield path there are some overhanging trees – blackthorn, we think – which we cut every year. We were not really equipped for heavy work but removed a huge amount.
Once we started removing some supporting branches we found that some of the trees were dead and pulled out of the ground fairly easily. The result was a large pile of branches (see photo).
Photograph C. Pile of branches
This may or may not be the last strimming session of the year. Watch this space to find out!
The working party gathered at two venues today on a fine morning for strimming-and-trimming work.
The first squad of five volunteers met at the Hartley Road car park to strim the paths in the surrounding area. Two of them geared up to use the strimmers and three grabbed rakes. One pair headed directly down the path towards the new wooden bridge at the top of the estuary, while the other three headed upstream towards the dipping pond.
With this being the third cut, the vegetation wasn’t too bad so good progress was made. The pair that had headed downstream soon had reached their goal so they returned to the rest of the party and headed to strim the path through the meadow while the other volunteers continued up towards the stone bridge.
A few people had queried why we hadn’t cut the meadow this year. Well, what we are doing is an experiment to see what happens to the wildflowers that grow there if left uncut one year in two or some other combination. Only time will tell whether what will work best.
Photograph A. Strimming the meadow path
Meanwhile the second squad gathered near Dene Cottage at the sluice end of the estuary. The four volunteers took up a couple of strimmers and a couple of rakes and proceeded to strim the verges along the west side of the estuary from Dene Cottage to the new wooden bridge over the side burn. They also strimmed up the steps to the high-level path on that side of the estuary. Pathside shrubs were cut back as usual.
This having been completed earlier than expected, two of them joined the others at the Hartley West Farm area and the other two went off home early.
One or two items of wildlife were spotted in the estuary area despite the noise of the strimmers:
a goosander was seen on the wing heading down the river – it is an elongated version of a duck and dives to catch fish
other birds: redshank, heron, cormorant, rooks
and a butterfly: a speckled wood
Try going for a walk in estuary if you haven’t done it already. Park at the Melton Constable or near St Paul’s Church. It is probably the best part of the Dene for flora and fauna, and today it was looking beautiful in the bright autumn light.
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