25-Nov-25

Ten volunteers met up by Dene Cottage this morning to continue our work on the estuary west-side path. This work started almost a month ago, but a record three rain-offs in a row has kept us indoors on Tuesday mornings.

The path running along the west side of the estuary is (as you will know if you have been there recently) prone to muddiness and messiness. Reason: when it rains, the water flows down the steep dene-side slope and somehow has to cross the path to get into the Seaton Burn. Gutters and gullies are therefore necessary to get the water across without flooding the path, but they do not always work.

This project has been an attempt to improve things by (a) increasing the number of cross-path gullies and (b) embedding large stones in the path to counteract muddiness and erosion. So today, as part of the project, we installed a plastic culvert pipe as an under-path gully and placed several large stepping-stones either side of it to stabilise the erosion of the path. The stones had been removed from the river-bed on a previous occasion.

Photograph A. Preparing to lay gully pipe

Photograph B. Filling in afterwards

We finished about an hour early today. Part of the plan had been to retrieve some stones from the river to use in path repairs, but the burn was flowing with such force that this was impracticable.

The estuary was a bit quiet from the wildlife point of view today, but we saw some mallard and redshanks, and heard a grey wagtail, a blackbird and a pheasant. Naturally, the trees are largely without leaf and the flowering plants have died down. The burn was in spate after the recent rains. The day threatened rain but it did not materialise, and as the morning wore on it got pleasantly sunny and mild.

2-Dec-25

A ten-volunteer working party spent a chilly but sunny Tuesday morning restoring a footpath near St. Paul’s Church, Seaton Sluice. We also gave the steps up from the stepping stones to the waggonway path (at the head end of the estuary) their annual clean-up.

A group of three of us set off on foot up the estuary first to sort out the steps problem. These steps tend to get covered with leaves at this time of year and they can freeze over in cold weather presenting a slip hazard to walkers. Spades a

The footpath in question is the one leading from the chippy carpark down to the estuary. It had been laid many years ago and the topside part had become grassed over. The downhill part had also become narrower because of encroaching verges. We set to work with spades, mattocks, rakes and a couple wheebarrows to restore the path. This was a bit of an archaeological task, as the path at the top was completely hidden from view under the grass. We started at the gateway at the top of the slope and worked in both directions – downhill and back towards the carpark.

The method is:

• use a spade to discover where the edge of the old gravel path is
• score along the edge with the spade
• use a mattock or spade to remove the turf layer revealing the gravel below
• barrow away the removed turf and dump discreetly nearby
• top up the gravel with new gravel from the nearby reserve pile

Proceeding in this fashion, we found that the top path actually extended right back to the carpark. So, we restored it to its original condition, as far as we could.

Photograph A. Restoring the top path

Meanwhile the same procedure was used to push back the verges of the path as it descends to the low-level estuary path.

Photograph B. Refreshing the downhill path

The task fitted neatly within the time allotted, so, having had our day’s exercise, we packed our things back in the van and went home.

23-Dec-25

Nine volunteers turned out this morning – not bad for a couple of days before Christmas. We assembled near the gas pumping station on Wallridge Drive, Holywell, for a morning’s footpath maintenance.

At the start of the morning’s work, we planted an oak sapling which has been grown from an acorn from an ancient oak. I won’t disclose precisely where it is, but we wish it well for the future!

The path maintenance activity proceeded much as last week – spades, mattocks and rakes being used to remove turf that was encroaching on the footpath and narrowing it. We managed to get all the way along from Dale Top to the Concord House steps. For added value, we also cleared all the dead leaves and mud off the steps at both the Dale Top end and the Concord House end.

Photograph A. Cleaning path at Dale Top

Photograph B. More path maintenance

Photograph C. Cleaning mud off bridge near Concord House

At tea break we were joined by Emma Foody (Labour/Co-op MP for Cramlington and Killingworth constituency) who wanted to thank us for our work and offered us some festive mince pies – very much appreciated!

There wasn’t much wildlife to report. A robin, some blue tits and goldfinches and a wren were seen and/or heard. We noticed that there are lots of earthworms in the surface soil – undoubtedly a result of the abundant rain we have had over the last couple of months.

We wish all our readers and all users of Holywell Dene a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year – cheers!

16-Dec-25

A good turnout of 11 volunteers assembled near St. Paul’s church in Seaton Sluice this morning to continue the path work of a fortnight ago.  Last week was another wash-out and in fact we have had an unprecedented four cancellations because of rain during November and December!

We finished off the path down from the chip-shop carpark to the estuary path first, with half the volunteers widening the top part of that path and the others working on the lower part. Spades, mattocks, rakes and wheelbarrows were deployed for this work.

Photograph A. Widening lower path

Photograph B. Completed lower path

When we had finished on the top path we started working to widen the path on the north side of the church. This runs steeply down from pavement level to estuary level past the stone commemorating Counsellor Tom Earnshaw, a local painter and historian who died in 1973. The volunteers working on the lower level path joined in later.

Photograph C. Widening path north of church

We were treated to some cheese scones and fruit scones by our lady chair at break time. One of our volunteers also kindly brought some home-baked peanut cookies. All very welcome on a cold winter’s day!

With having a good sized squad of workers, we got the job done well before time, so we cleaned our tools, loaded them up into the van and went home for an early lunch.

So, users of the Dene at the Seaton Sluice end now have a couple of nice wide gravelly paths to ease the descent to the estuary path. Enjoy!

The turf that we removed from the sides of the path has been dumped out of the way against a sandstone rock face below the church. Feel free to take it if you can think of a use for it – on your garden, say – but it’s not suitable for lawn laying.

The wildlife scene was a bit subdued today, but we heard a mallard and a redshank calling – as well as the squawking of the black-headed gulls.

30-Dec-25

The working party on Tuesday consisted of seven volunteers, assembling at the Crowhall Farm cattle grid for another session of path restoration and other activities. This was a cold, dull day but the working conditions were OK apart from a couple of showers.

The main job was path restoration, but we also did a couple of side jobs. The first was to seal off a dog slide. In case you don’t know, what happens is that our canine friends have a habit, whenever they see water, of rushing headlong into it, splashing around, then clambering up the river bank to get out again. After this has happened a lot of times in one place, there is found to be a notch in the river bank and a lot of soil in the river, which is not good for water quality.

So, what we do is (1) hammer a post into the river’s edge at the dog slide, (2) pack lengths of planking behind it to make a barrier, and (3) fill the space behind with soil. And that’s job done, until the next dog slide appears!

Photograph A. Mending a dog-slide

Photograph B. Completed repair

The other side task was repairing the stile in the fence near the Crowhall Farm cattle grid. This stile is not heavily used, but is useful for those prepared to cross the cattle field from Hartley Lane to get into the middle of the Dene.

The timber step had come loose, so we removed it, hammered a stake into the ground, sawed it off to the right height and screwed the step back into place. Normal service resumed!

The path restoration project was the main task of the day, and, as usual, this consisted of hacking back the turf that was encroaching on the footpath with spades and mattocks to get down to the original aggregate of the path. Well, today we managed to restore the south-side path all the way from the upstream wooden footbridge right down to a point past the Crowhall stile.

Photograph C. Restoring footpath

Finally, many of you will remember Russell Pannell who was a founder of Friends of Holywell Dene and led the working party for many years before retiring from that role in 2016. Well the sad news is that he passed away on the last day of 2025 at the age of 89. More information will be made available shortly. Russell was devoted to Holywell Dene and will be remembered with affection for a long time by us volunteers.