So, what’s the colour of Spring for you? As a resident of the Breamish Valley I can’t help but think that you’ll say it’s ‘yellow’. I mean, just about everywhere along the Breamish Valley is yellow right now. The whole valley is smothered in flowering gorse, giving a wonderful scent of coconut drifting on the Spring air.
Mainly produced by children forced to stay at home, they are popping up everywhere: in windows, on walls, on garage doors. Helped by parents and carers, they are vibrant symbols of support for the NHS and all the key workers who are working so hard to help us all get through these unprecedented times.
The vernal equinox typically occurs on 20 or 21 March and is characterised by the sun being exactly above the equator. Consequently, day and night are equal in length. It also marks the first day of Spring in the northern hemisphere.
It’s been wet and very windy recently but a walk around Branton Lakes during a brief sunny spell showed up some beautiful scenes.
[Credit: Header image copyright © Tweed Forum 2019 and used with permission.]
As the River Breamish Riverbank Protection project comes to an end, Tweed Forum Project Officer, Joe Taylforth has been on site again to take some more aerial photographs. These clearly show the extent of the work undertaken and how the project has created new riverbanks from old.
Since the root wads were delivered and ready to be installed at Site 1 and the logs were sorted at Site 2, work on the Breamish Riverbank Stabilisation and Reinstatement project has continued on track – and now all the heavy work is completed.
The old, eroding riverbanks have been stabilised using so-called soft engineering techniques to reclaim some of the lost land and to protect them from further erosion that was threatening to damage the road.
After driving in several vertical posts and continuing to line them up along the riverbank, the contractors undertaking the River Breamish Riverbank Protection works have been spending hours backfilling the log matrix.
The River Breamish Riverbank Protection works began a few days ago by driving vertical posts into the ground at Site 2.
The team of three contractors have continued to drive more posts into the ground, following the line of the riverbank.
Since restoration work began at Site 2 as part of the River Breamish Riverbank Protection, the project to reinstate and protect the River Breamish riverbank from lateral erosion between Brandon and Ingram has continued apace.
Since the near completion of Site 1 of the River Breamish Riverbank Protection scheme, work is now focusing on the Site 2 (between Site 1 and the Brandon footbridge).
A team from River Tweed Commission have been electro-fishing (or ‘electric fishing’) in front of Site 2 to catch and remove fish. For their protection, they are then replaced in the river downstream and prevented from returning to the work site by simple hay bale ‘fish barriers’.
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