10-Mar-26

An eight-person working party assembled at the water pumping station east of Holywell this morning to do fence repairs and path repairs, and to give the Holywell side burn a good clear-out.

Three of the volunteers went to the kissing-gate off the old railway line that the youngsters use to access the mountain-biking area. Their job was to repair the nearby fence which has recently been vandalised by unknown individuals. Tools required were heavy-duty fence-post auger grabbers, a posthole digging spade, a drill, an impact driver and some screws.

Photograph A. Fence being repaired

First of all we had to decide where to dig the holes for the new posts. Three holes were required. These were soon dug out using the ratio of a third of the post in the ground and two thirds above.

One of the team filled a bucket with water from the burn for mixing postcrete for securing the posts. This was done by pouring some of the dry postcrete into the hole around a post, then carefully pouring water in, adding more water and postcrete until the post was secure. The hole was then backfilled with soil and tamped down.

Once the first post was secured we re-attached the old cross-rails using the drill for a pilot hole and the impact driver to secure the cross-rails to the new post. A total of three new posts were required to finish the job, which took an hour and a half; then we joined the other party of volunteers to help them finish their tasks.

Photograph B. Repaired fence

Meanwhile, upstream at the Holywell side burn the other five volunteers were clearing out the burn and mending a footpath step. The side burn was congested with branches, twigs and silt, and there was a danger that this material would block the two parallel culvert pipes that take the water under the footpath.

So, it was into the water in wellies to clear all the junk out of the stream with spades. This took quite a while to do, as there was a lot of debris to be shifted. Some litter was removed as well. A couple of logs had to be sawed in half to get them out. A small dam was dismantled also. By the end, the water was flowing nicely.

Photograph C. Clearing side burn

Meanwhile one of the timber steps in the flight leading up the slope to the west had to be replaced. It was dug out and a new one put in place, with stakes to secure it.

Photograph D. Replacing step

It was a chilly day because of the wind, but not so bad in the sheltered conditions of the Dene. We managed to get the work done before the allotted time, so were able to head homeward somewhat early, having completed three useful maintenance jobs.

3-Mar-26

Nine volunteers assembled at the Holywell water pumping station to clear a river blockage downstream of the tunnel. No photos were obtained, but here is a brief account of activities.

A logjam had built up over the winter behind the old fallen tree just down from the tunnel under the old railway line. As usual it was accompanied by litter and mess. Three of us put waders on and started to dismantle the logjam. We collected the plastic litter in the logjam and bagged it up for disposal.

Meanwhile other volunteers moved the extracted branches and twig litter to ground away from the water. The hand winch had to be deployed to get some of the larger logs out of the river.

A woodpecker was heard drumming this morning and the dipper (a water-bird) appeared in the river while we were having out refreshment break.

Watch this space for future adventures of the Friends of Holywell Dene working party.

17-Mar-26

It was willow-weaving near the estuary for this morning’s working party of nine volunteers. The meet-up point was Hartley Lane carpark and the weather (after some initial cloud) was warm and sunny!

We loaded up the wheelbarrows, as usual, with tools from our little red tools van and marched down the Dene to the seat upstream of the head of the estuary. In front of that seat is a stand of willow which we planted several years ago along the river bank to prevent dogs from rushing into the water and eroding the riverbank.

Photograph A. Stand of willow

These willows are common osiers (Salix viminalis) and they grow very rapidly, throwing up, in a year, long thin branches easily 10 feet long. These need to be pruned back every year and woven in to the other plants to form a barrier.

So, we got the loppers out and a long-handled pruner and started work. One of us got into the river with waders on to tackle the overhanging branches.

Photograph B. Willow pruning and weaving

The willow pruning and weaving proceeded well, and meanwhile we started to tackle a minor logjam somewhat upstream of the willows. A heavy waterlogged branch was partly block the stream, and after some bowsaw work a group of us pulled the branch out onto dry land.

While we were working in that area we noticed that the bank was being eroded by doggies thereabouts, so we pushed some of the cut willow stems into the earth in a line along the water’s edge and wove other stems into them horizontally to form a barrier.

Meanwhile the pruning and weaving of the original willow barrier proceeded to completion.

Photograph C. Willow barrier after maintenance

Finally, as we were walking back to the carpark, we did some tree pruning in the plantation on the east side of the path. Lower branches need to be removed from developing trees, e.g. oaks, to encourage them to push upwards.

• It was a good day for birdlife and we were using the Merlin app to identify birdsong. Seen and heard today were:
• the local flock of pink-footed geese
• at least five grey herons in the heronry
• chiffchaff, blue tit, great tit, chaffinch and wren all singing away
• a willow tit heard – a rare treat!
• pheasants, magpies, woodpigeons, carrion crows, rooks and herring gulls all seen and/or heard
• mallard and moorhen were spotted on or near the water
• a queen bumblebee was seen feeding on the nectar provided by the catkins and no doubt looking for a place to start a colony

Incidentally, a chiffchaff (a migratory insect-eating bird) was heard a week ago – the first of the year for us.

24-Mar-26

Willow-weaving was again the theme of this morning’s working group session at the gabions upstream of the stepping stones. Seven volunteers assembled close to Hartley West Farm on a grey but dry day.

The task today was to perform annual maintenance on the willows at the gabions. We thought we would do this job now because the forecast is that some wet weather is coming, which would be good for rooting in.

To remind you, we installed these gabions (wire cages of stones) and willows years ago to shore up the river bank where it was being eroded (partly by dogs). As usual, we loaded up our wheelbarrows with tools from the van and headed off up the path to the work site.

We then set about pruning the willows. These grow long, whippy stems every year. Loppers and bowsaws were used to cut these down to a reasonable height. Meanwhile, one of us put on waders and got into the river to prune the willows at water’s edge (and to remove litter, and to plant willows on the other bank).

Photograph A. Cutting willows

The cut stems were then used to construct a willow barrier to block off a doggie-slide. Some thicker stems were cut to a suitable length and pushed into the soil of the river bank. These verticals were then inter-woven with thinner willow wands to produce a basket-like effect.

Photograph B. Starting the weave

Photograph C. More weaving

Photograph D. Completed barrier

There were lots of walkers and runners out today, and quite a few of them stopped to comment (positively!) on our handiwork.

Here are some of the wildlife/birdlife highlights:

• daffodils in bloom in the meadow close to the stone bridge
• lots of noisy rooks in the rookery nearby, accompanied by jackdaws
• lots of chiffchaffs (insect-eating warblers from Africa) singing in the trees
• robins, wrens, blue tits, great tits singing
• goldfinches, woodpigeons and pheasant heard

We managed to get all this done a bit before the usual end of the session, so we packed up, returned to the van and returned to our homes. Shortly after that, it started raining – so, perfect timing!

7-Apr-26

A working party of nine volunteers gathered near Hartley West Farm this morning for another river clearance session, on a fine sunny day – with birds singing and spring flowers blooming.

Storm Dave had done its worst and blown two trees into the river. The first one was just upstream of the waterfall. We couldn’t get the main trunk out, but, after removing branches, we winched it to the side of the river. The river is not all that deep at that point so waders weren’t needed (although wellies were).

Photograph A. River blockage

Photograph B. Clearing blockage

The end result was a couple of big piles of branches and twigs either bank and a clear river.

The second tree had fallen right across the river at the straight section between the lower wooden footbridge and the stepping stones. This one was a big one! Some others had removed the branches across the path, leaving us with little to do.

We removed some of the remaining branches with bowsaws and piled the debris on dry land. The trunk was still in the river, right across its width, but we don’t have access to chainsaws nowadays, so we can’t do much more about that problem.

We’re sometimes asked why we remove timber from the river – “why not let the river be natural, logjams and all?” Well, logjams tend to be litter traps, and we can’t bear to leave lots of litter floating on the river – it’s unsightly and bad for wildlife. We could leave the blockages in place and just remove litter, but that would be prohibitively time-consuming.

Leaving timber in a river works well in up-country rivers, but it doesn’t work so well in the urban-fringe setting, where litter is more of a problem. We are open to suggestions on this dilemma, but meanwhile we feel obliged to keep the river clear.

Anyway, today was a good one for wildlife. The warblers are in from Africa and are singing their heads off! – blackcaps and chiffchaffs in particular. Also singing were robins, wrens, great tits, blue tits and a song thrush. A woodpecker was heard calling; also rooks, jackdaws and a pheasant. And the mallards were very active, flying up and down the river in pairs inspecting our work.

On a sunny spring day all the flowers open out, and today it was the old springtime favourites of celandines, anemones and bluebells, among others.

31-Mar-26

The meeting-place for the working party this morning was outside the Milbourne Arms, Holywell. The squad numbered nine, of whom one was a new recruit – and a hearty welcome to him! The weather this morning was just right for volunteering work – overcast but mild and not windy or rainy.

The team leader has spotted a couple of river blockages near the Holywell road bridge. So, after loading up the wheelbarrows, off we went down to the old Holywell bridge and over to the south side, then along the downstream path to just before the first flight of steps.

At this point three of us put on waders and got into the river to dismantle the first logjam – caused by a riverside tree collapsing across the burn. The others stood on the river bank to receive branches etc as they came out of the water. They also sawed off some of the branches of the collapsed tree.

Photograph A. Fallen tree

As usual, there was quite a lot of plastic litter in amongst all the twigs and branches that had built up upstream of the tree. This was, as usual, collected up and bagged for disposal as general waste.

Photograph B. Clearing blockage 1

The hand winch had to be deployed to get some of the big timber out. This enabled us to remove many of the large branches after detaching them with bowsaws. Some of them however were too big, and remain resting in and above the water, so more work will be needed in future.

Photograph C. Result

About mid-session we finished off work on the first logjam, loaded up our wheelbarrows and trundled off to the second river-blockage, which was upstream of the Holywell bridge and at the place where a sewer pipe crosses over the burn, supported by a stone column in the middle of the river which has always tended to trap any large branches that drift downstream.

So the three of us with waders on got into the river again. Meanwhile the team on the bank set up two winches to drag out the huge branch that was causing the blockage as well as several lesser ones. Other, smaller, branches were simply thrown or heaved out – placing them as high as possible up the river bank to keep them above flood level.

Photograph D. Clearing blockage 2

Photograph E. Winching branch out of river

We managed to get all the wood out of the river by noon, so, since it was quite close to going-home time, we packed things up and went home, satisfied at having done two sessions’ worth of work in one session!

Oh by the way, there was some birdlife interest today:

• a cormorant – a big fish-eating bird normally seen at sea – was spotted near the second blockage
• a pair of mallard ducks were seen nearby
• songbirds included greenfinches, blue tits, coal tits, great tits and a wren