The River Breamish Riverbank Protection project began in August 2019 and anyone who’s kept abreast of developments will likely know that one of the final stages of the project was to lay some coir matting at Site 1 (what I’ve referred to as the ‘whirlpool’ previously). This can be seen in some nice aerial shots taken by Tweed Forum.
Well, after all the seeming drabness of lockdown, even the skies are beginning to reward us with their colours.
Hot on the heels of making Powburn bloom-ing beautiful (see what I did there?) with planting flowers and shrubs in road sign planters – including a donation from Dobbies – May Wilson has been out and about again improving our environment by putting bedding plants into the flower bed just at the entrance to the Plough Inn car park. She was helped by Noreen Birnie and Mary Wealleans.
Now that the UK lockdown has eased, and it’s easier to travel to some of the local beauty spots, I took the opportunity yesterday to make my first trip to Holy Island.
The wooden staithes – part of an old jetty – in front of Lindisfarne Castle on Holy Island are an iconic part of the seascape.
Contrails (a word blended from ‘condensation trails’) are the wispy, cloud-like white lines that zig-zag across the sky in the wake of jets engines. They are made up of water droplets and/or ice crystals.
Following the UK Government’s recent easing of the coronavirus lockdown restrictions, there have been reports of visitors to Breamish Valley not following guidance on social distancing, dropping litter and lighting barbecues. Consequently, Northumberland National Park Authority has issued instructions that, during the current hot spell, no barbecues should be lit anywhere along the Breamish Valley. To this end, a mobile roadside information panel was installed on the road into Breamish Valley just after passing through Brandon Village and shortly after the footbridge.
One day I sat in the wood…
I’d mentioned recently that the dominant yellows of early Spring were now being accompanied by reds, blues and whites in the valley. Well, other than the currently flowering hawthorn, if you want to see carpets of white you may need to climb a little higher and onto the heath land.
Yipee! Since the UK Government’s easing of the ‘once-a-day exercise’ guidance I took the opportunity to make a visit to our sister valley: Harthope Valley. And, like the Breamish Valley, it currently looks stunning with the drifting mounds of yellow gorse:
