Friends of Brierdene Works Diary

Works Diary for April

The weather has been on our side for a change, and we have been able to catch up on some of our planned maintenance.

We also had the judge for the Green Flag this month, so quite a bit of time has been spent litter picking in all areas of the dene and the plastic bags in the trees and bushes have been removed.

In the Upper Reach the hedge line on the northern bank has been cut back and cleared, and a small area at the bottom of the steps was cleared of unwanted plants last year has now been forked over and sown.

The brambles and growth along the sides of the northwest footpath have also been trimmed back and the burn has twice been cleared of rubbish that had been washed in from upstream.

In the Middle Reach the refuge areas alongside the burn have been cut back and the brambles and growth along the sides of main track down from the upper dene has been cut back and cleared.

In the Lower Reach the refuge areas alongside the burn have been cut back and cleared and all rubbish removed from the burn.

On the Dene Top additional wild flowers seeds have been sown along the south side of the main footpath and wood chippings have been laid along the natural walkways at the west end.

The inside of the wooden fence at the east end has also been painted this month.

4.5 bags of Litter were collected this month.

Photos of some of this work along can be seen on the April Photo Page.

Works Diary for March

It’s not been the best month for weather; we did lose two days’ work because of the snow and blizzards.

But the rain and wet conditions did limit the work we could do, putting us a little behind on the work we had planned for the month.

One of the best days we had was for the “Keep Britain Tidy’s” “Big Spring Clean”, were we carried out a litter pick on the links and beach.

We collected 17 bags of litter and an old tractor tyre during our morning’s work.

Even the sight visit with the Community Wardens took place in the rain.

In the Upper Reach only litter picks were carried out.

In the Middle Reach only litter picks were carried out.

In the Lower Reach all the tree brash caused by the high winds was cleared away and any brambles were pruned back and cleared along the footpaths.

This area was litter picked as well.

On the Dene Top we have dug out all the brambles we could find along the south side of the main footpath and cleared away building rubble and tree brash from the area.

Bramble runners and blackthorn whips have been dug out from the east end wild flower area on the north side of the dene top.

The whole area has been litter pick and the plastic bags in the trees and bushes have been removed.

5 bags of Litter were collected this month, most of it being beer cans.

Photos of some of this work along can be seen on the March Photo Page.

Works Diary for May

We have had some mindless vandalism again this month, the stone seat at the west end of the lower dene was damaged in places on 3 occasions. We cemented it up on the first occasion but the stones were ripped off twice after that. At present the stones have been replaced and will be cemented up later in June.

The ladies of the Tynemouth and Whitley Bay Soroptimists did a morning’s planting with us,

on the south side of the main footpath on the dene top.

We also had a site visit with the Whitley Bay u3a this month, this a guided tour looking at the wild flowers in bloom and the work and improvements that we had done in the Wildlife Site.

We have also had school visit this month with Coquet Park School looking at the water cycle.

We also did a bug hut with the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze which resulted in finding 4 new species.

In the Upper Reach we have rebuild the stone seat 3 times as a drystone wall and cut back the overgrowth along the burn. We have also cleared some of the Rosebay Willow Herb from along the north bank and started to rebuild the willow hedge.

In the Middle Reach we have cut back the overgrowth along the burn and cut back some of the Cow Parsley along the edges of the footpaths.

In the Lower Reach we have cut back some of the Cow Parsley along the edges of the footpaths.

Dene Top we have had 4 sessions of planting wild flower plugs along the south side of the main footpath, and we have started cutting and clearing around the edges of the car park.

2.5 bags of Litter were collected this month.

Photos of some of this work along can be seen on the May Photo Page.