Following its declaration of a climate emergency, the Brinkburn & Hesleyhurst Parish Council adopted a 5-year Climate Change & Biodiversity plan in March 2023 to increase biodiversity and reduce the effects of climate change have already started. It set up the Climate Change & Biodiversity Committee to take this work forward. Working with residents, landowners, and Northumberland County Council, we are on track to fulfil the vision set out by our committee.
Projects Underway
Information Event. In the summer we held a really inspirational day where we were able to showcase our vision Our posters and presentations received an enthusiastic response from attendees with much positive feedback given. It provided an opportunity for like-minded individuals to network and forge useful contacts for further collaborations. Other parishes planned to organise their own similar events and asked for our assistance, which suggested that the event had been perceived as a success. Several residents signed up to join in our birdbox and hedge laying projects. There were also volunteers who signed up to join the litter-picking team and asked to receive a packet of meadow seed to make their own contribution to the meadows project.
Hedge laying. Our vision to transform hedge rows into laid hedges has started with our showcase hedge at Embleton terrace playing field. Laying a hedge encourages a habitat for a large number of species. Unmanaged hedges often have very little ground cover at their base, which provides no habitat for the winter. Laid hedges are denser and provide more fruit and cover over the winter and also sequent more carbon into the ground due to their denseness. We ran three very successful one day hedge laying training course for volunteers in February with over 20 people being trained.
Meadow seeding. We have given out 1kg of seeds to people in the area for their land and gardens. We have kept a data base and will find out who had the most productive show next season. Working with landowners and highways we have identified 4 areas which we are looking to turn into meadow seeded places. This will increase insect and bird habitats, be visually aesthetic to look at, and provide community events at harvest time. In turn this will lower our carbon footprint as these areas will not be cut by machines. Meadows will be hand cut as part of a community event
and the cuttings will be made into hay bales. These bales will be entered in the Forestburn Gate hay show and donated to the local pledge auction.
Bird population. We secured funding to build 50 bird nest boxes aimed to provide nesting for Pied Flycatcher, Nuthatch, and Redstart. These boxes have been sited around the parish with land owners permission.
River monitoring. We are part of the CRAG river monitoring project and are in the process of training a small group of volunteers to monitor the Coquet from the Rothbury boundary to Weldon Bridge.
Geo mapping. We have obtained a Toughbook tablet and survey software to record data from around our Parish and beyond. This will enable us to have a baseline habitat survey of what the area has now and to give us a record for the future. This will enable us to see what parts of our environment are thriving or declining. The data we can input the system is almost endless; from birds to grass, and orchids to butterflies we can input it all under the supervision of a local ecologist who is leading on this project.
Litter Picking. There have been several litter picking events on roads throughout the parish throughout the year with mounds of rubbish collected. We realise that litter is not going away, but we hope our constant efforts to keep our roads clear of rubbish will deter offenders.
Plans for 2024
We have ambitious plans for the forthcoming year. We have agreed to focus our endeavours along the eastern corridor of the Coquet (west of Weldon Bridge). Known to us as the Pink Whale (because of its shape and colour used in our mapping) this area has been chosen because we have developed good relationships with the landowners who are all passionate and knowledgeable about biodiversity and the area lends itself to becoming a perfect example of a biodiversity corridor. This year we will:
- Hold a second biodiversity event at Embleton Terrace playing field, where we can catch the attention of the wider community and showcase our work.
- Build and site a further 200 nesting boxes.
- Extend our hedge laying, only this time we would not only be doing further training (for residents and non-residents) but using labour from previous course students and volunteers we will extend the number and length of hedges being laid in the Pink Whale are. We are also going to hold an amateur hedge laying competition later in the year.
- Complete the Habitat Survey of the Pink Whale
- Extended wildflower and tree planting activity.
- Further litter picking throughout the parish. We are in discussions with the County Council to consider a poster campaign.
We have been very fortunate in obtaining significant funding from the Wingates Wind Farm Community Fund (WWCF). We would like to thank WWCF for supporting our projects and to our local residents and volunteers for sharing their knowledge and expertise.
We are keen to work with and share our experience and developing knowledge and expertise with other like-minded groups.
