1-Sep-26

A group of eleven volunteers met up at the Northumbrian Water pumping station this morning for a session focused on essential trail repairs and accessibility. We were treated to a pleasant, dry, and sunny day with a light breeze and comfortable temperatures around 18°C.

Our main focus today was tackling some much-needed maintenance on local infrastructure. To that end, we divided into three groups.

The main group addressed a damaged fence. This is the section of fencing, including a stile, at the top of the steps that take you up from the river level to the north end of the embankment.

The fence had been knocked down by vandals, so we decided to build it back stronger and convert the stile into a narrow gateway, making the route far more accessible! The fence-posts are now sunk 0.8 metres deep into the ground and concreted in.

Photograph A. Fence and stile before repairs

Photograph B. After repairs

A second, smaller, group carried out temporary repairs on the two mid-Dene footbridges – replacing broken treads, mainly. These bridges fall under North Tyneside Council’s responsibility, and we have reached out numerous times to them for assistance to no avail so far, so our temporary fixes are designed to do no more than ensure they remain safe and usable for visitors in the meantime.

Photograph C. Upstream footbridge after repairs

Photograph D. Downstream footbridge after repairs

The third activity today was strimming. Only one strimmer was deployed but we managed to get a long stretch of the south-side path cleared of pathside vegetation upstream of the tunnel.

It was lovely working in the Dene today, and great to see so many people out and about enjoying the paths on their bikes in the sunshine.

We’ll be back for more adventures next week!

15-Sep-26

The working party numbered only seven volunteers this morning, mainly because of holidays, although we had a new recruit starting today – many thanks to him for giving up some of his time to look after the Dene! The main task was replacing a damaged fence, with some sycamore- and ivy-bashing on the side – on a bright, warm, breezy day.

The assembly point was our parking space by the gateway of the Northumbrian Water pumping station down Holywell Lane. There were a lot of tools and materials needed for today’s task, so some of us had to make the trip from the van to the site twice. The site in question was the gate at the southern end of the embankment over the tunnel, which leads to the mountain biking area.

At a rough guess, our young mountain-biking friends don’t like the gate and fence at that point because it makes access difficult, and at a rough guess that’s why it keeps getting damaged. The length of fence right of the gate was the recent victim of their activities.

Photograph A. Fence before work began

Essentially, the task of the day was to replace that piece of fence with something that will hopefully last somewhat longer. We set the fence posts deeply into the ground and fixed them in place with “postcrete”, we doubled up the top two fence bars, and we attached wire to the bars to make them difficult to remove.

Photograph B. The fence-mending team

Photograph C. The finished job

The other activity of the morning – done by two volunteers – was removal of ivy and sycamores. This work was done in the space on the other side of the burn from the mountain-biking area. Well, it turned out that the ivy situation was not too bad in that area, so we concentrated on sycamores.

We remove sycamore because it is an invasive alien tree – a fact the surprises some people. There are already lots of fully-grown sycamore trees in the Dene, which we can’t do anything about, so our activities are designed to keep the numbers down. Basically, we remove seedlings and saplings and trim low-hanging branches and twigs of grown trees.

Well, the fence replacement work, despite the small numbers today, was completed well before our normal finish time – so we decided to go home!

Watch this space for more adventures next Tuesday.

22-Sep-26

Nine volunteers met up by the estuary this morning for a busy and varied session in the Dene. The weather was unusually hot and humid for late September, with temperatures reaching 24°C, but the team muscled in and got stuck straight into the work!

We focused our efforts on several maintenance and conservation tasks on the western side of the estuary today. First, the team repaired and secured the fencing along the high path to keep the route safe and sturdy for visitors. We also spent time clearing away fallen sticks and debris to keep the paths tidy.

Photograph A. Securing the fencing along the high path

Photograph B. Clearing steps

In addition to the path maintenance, we carried out some essential woodland management, focusing on sycamore control to manage invasive saplings and ivy control to prevent mature trees from being weighed down.

Photograph C. Controlling sycamores

Despite the sweltering and humid conditions, it was a fantastic, highly productive, and very enjoyable morning of hard graft!

The estuary was looking gorgeous this morning, and must have looked even better a few weeks ago when the sea asters were blooming – they cover the salt marsh in late summer.

Photograph D. Sea aster

Photograph E. View of estuary

We’ll be back for more adventures next week!

29-Sep-26

A group of nine volunteers met up by the Milbourne Arms this morning for another productive session in the Dene. The weather was pleasantly mild for late September, with comfortable working temperatures around 15°C.

To tackle the morning's tasks efficiently, we split into two groups.

Group 1 headed over opposite the equestrian centre, focusing their efforts on clearing and tidying the steps to keep the route safe and clear for visitors.

Meanwhile, Group 2 worked upstream from the old Holywell bridge, carrying out essential sycamore and ivy control to help protect native woodland species and keep growth under control.

Photograph A. Pruning a sycamore

Photograph B. Controlling ivy

Once their respective tasks were complete, the two groups joined forces to finish up the remaining work together before wrapping up a brilliant morning.

Photograph C. Ivy and fungus (King Alfred’s cakes)

A big thank you to all nine volunteers for another fantastic team effort!

We’ll be back for more adventures next week!

6-Oct-26

A group of eight volunteers met up at Hartley Lane car park this morning for a session of very hard manual labour! It was a brisk autumn day at 12°C, which proved to be ideal weather for the heavy lifting required.

You will probably remember that the pond near the carpark used to have a pond-dipping platform. It was removed a long while ago because it was rotten and unsafe. We have always intended to replace it and, now that Northumberland County Council have procured the necessary timber, we are finally ready to do so.

Today was preparation day. The work was made easier by the fact that, after this long, dry summer, the pond is dry (apart from some squelchy silt in the bottom).

We started by clearing floating pennywort (an invasive water plant) and its creeping roots from the pond bed. Meanwhile we strimmed the reedmace (“bullrushes”) which is always trying to congest the pond and turn it into a reedbed.

Photograph A. Clearing bed of dipping pond

Photograph B. Strimming back the reeds

We then started to dig through and remove a significant amount of heavy rocks, boulders, and rubble. While tackling the bed of the pond, we also managed to deepen it a bit to improve water retention and habitat quality.

Alongside the heavy digging, the team cleared the outlet gully to ensure proper drainage.

Photograph C. Clearing out the outlet channel

It was a tough, physically demanding morning, but the team put in a huge effort to clear the rubble and get the site transformed!

We always listen and look out for birds and other wildlife. This morning the bird interest was provided by the rookery in the tall beeches along Hartley Lane. The rooks were on the wing, flying between the beeches and the fields, calling to each other all the time.

Mingled with the rooks were the some jackdaws, which like to roost in the rookery. They also were very vocal. Other bird sounds included the songs of robins and a dunnock and the call of a pheasant.

We’ll be back to finish off the pond next week!

27-Oct-26

A group of seven volunteers met up at the Hartley Lane car park this morning on a bright, blustery, and chilly autumn day with temperatures hovering around 8°C. Our main focus for the session was the construction of the new pond-dipping platform.

First, the team repaired the vandalism done to the decking area since last week. Once everything was secured, we finished constructing the main frame and successfully laid down the new decking boards, bringing the new platform together brilliantly!

Photograph A. Building the frame of the platform

Photograph B. Adding decking

Photograph C. Completed (almost!) pond-dipping platform

Meanwhile, another crew tackled path maintenance nearby. They worked on fixing and securing the path edge to stop loose rubble from falling into the gully and causing blockages.

Photograph D. Secured path edge

A massive shout-out to Peter, the head of our working party, for designing the decking structure from scratch and guiding the whole team through every stage of the construction!

As always we were on the lookout for interesting plants and animals, and today we spotted a harlequin ladybird and a bittersweet nightshade plant.

Photograph E. Bittersweet nightshade

We’ll be back for more adventures next week!

20-Oct-26

It was a good thing that today’s working party numbered ten volunteers because a big job was being tackled. Having prepared the dipping pond for a new platform a fortnight ago, it was today’s task to start constructing that platform.

The tools van was parked in the Hartley Lane carpark, which is only a short distance from the pond. The first activity was to carry timber and lots of tools to the work site.

Phase 1 of the construction was to build a strong timber frame on which to lay the platform. So, we dug six holes in the bed of the pond (which fortunately was largely dry) close to the pond edge. Next, three vertical posts were placed in the three outer holes, secured by a couple of horizontal beams using strong bolts.

Photograph A. Pond before commencement of work

Photograph B. Digging post holes

Photograph C. Getting the outer line of posts ready

Photograph D. Installing the outer line of posts

Next a joist was put in place to secure the structure to the pond bank. This meant installing a vertical post in the middle of the three inner holes. And that is about as far as we got today.

Photograph E. Installing the inner line of posts

To do a job like this properly, so that the end result will be stable and durable, means taking great care to get measurements right and timbers level. This all took time, so there was the opportunity for three of the squad to do a couple of other essential maintenance tasks.

This sub-group got a strimmer started and proceeded down the side burn, really a drainage ditch, that passes downhill between the carpark and the pond, clearing the vegetation either side and cleaning out the burn. Having completed that, they did a similar job on the ditch that drains the pond into the Seaton Burn. Clearing “gullies” like this is one of our regular winter maintenance tasks, which are imporant for keeping surface water moving and footpaths dry.

Spotting wildlife was not a rewarding activity on a grey day like today, but we did spot a large flock of corvids (rooks and/or jackdaws) in the sky at one point.

And a cow appeared in the field on the other side of the river and mooed at us at one point.

We were grateful that the weather, although grey and chilly was not windy (in the shelter of the dene) or rainy. We departed at the end of the session having made good progress with erecting the new pond-dipping platform – for the future benefit of children of all ages!