Member Article

Green Flag Award and Bioblitz at Brierdene

The Friends of Brierdene Wildlife Site, situated on the northern edge of Whitely Bay, have joined forces with Northumberland Wildlife Trust, and are calling on members of the public to help them count everything that grows, walks, crawls, swims or flies into the Dene at a special Bioblitz on Saturday 10 September, between 10:00am to 3:00pm.

Over the course of five hours, participants at the event will have the opportunity to talk to experts from Northumberland Wildlife Trust, E.R.I.C (Environmental Records Information Centre) and the Northumberland Mammal Society. The event is being sponsored by Story Homes.

Steve Lowe, Head of Conservation at Northumberland Wildlife Trust is delighted with the Bioblitz, he said: “The Brierdene Site is home to over 869 species of wildlife including plants, birds, butterflies, moths, bees and ladybirds, not to mention spiders and fungi, so it is well worth a visit.

“The Bioblitz promises to be a great event, so if you have a few hours spare it’s well worth calling in and seeing for yourself.”

The Brierdene is a small coastal dene covering an area of over five hectares. It contains neutral semi-improved grassland and scrub habitat which supports a variety of flowering and non-flowering plants, birds, mammals and invertebrates and is designated as a Local Wildlife Site.

The banksides of the Dene contain one of the best examples of semi-natural grassland in North Tyneside, with small areas of base flush meadows which attract coastal migrant mammals and a number of butterflies.

It is surrounded by housing on both the northern and southern sides and by two roads on its eastern and western sides; the natural aspect of this site has been retained, even with the urban development.

There was cause for celebration recently when the site retained the Green Flag Community Award for 2015/2016 for the fifth year running; Mike Pratt, Northumberland Wildlife Trust Chief Executive was delighted to have been asked to present the Green Flag to Steve Stone and a number of the Friends of Brier Dene.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sue Bishop .