Bringing Back Burdon Moor Project
A heathland creation project.
Heather clad lowland heaths are a very scarce habitat in the North East. In mediaeval times much of England would have been covered by heathland but in the last 200 years 80% has been lost. Now in Tyne and Wear only an area the size of three football pitches remains.
Heathland originally formed in areas where our native woodlands were felled and the soil became too poor for crops to grow. Constant grazing by deer or sheep then prevented the trees from returning and the woodlands from re-growing. Heathlands are made up of low and slow growing evergreen shrubs, mostly heather and heaths. This habitat is the home of many rare insects, birds and reptiles. The site is already used by Lapwings, Skylarks, Teal, Snipe, Jack Snipe and Golden Plover.
Burdon Moor was heathland at least 100 years ago before it was lost to agricultural improvements and opencast mining. Bringing Back Burdon Moor is a Gateshead Council project to re-create a lowland heath on a site were heather once grew. Work was carried out to remove existing vegetation and make the soil ready. Young heather plants and seeds have been sown, trees planted and ponds created. In 2004 a circular walk was also built on the site.
The site has proved to be good for birds and is reported as being one of the best places in Gateshead to watch birds. At this time of year (winter) you might see waders like Snipe and Jack Snipe and wildfowl like Teal and Mallard as well as Heron on the many ponds there. Sometimes there are large flocks of Golden, Plover, with as many as 500 birds. The site is good for birds of prey like Sparrowhawk, Short-eared Owl, Kestrel and even a Merlin has been seen there. You may also see Stonechat, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Linnet, Meadow Pipit, Skylark and winter thrushes like Fieldfare.
Part of our work is to monitor how the heathland regeneration is working. In 2005 we worked with Sunderland University, who engaged two high level Chinese scientists on placement in the north east, to study how well the young heather plants were growing.
The creation of lowland heath is a long and difficult process. It is not expected that the site will start to develop for many years and it will probably take much longer before Burdon Moor returns to heathland. In the meantime artists have been working with local people to create artistic features for you to enjoy. In the future wooden sculptures made by the Kibblesworth Karvers will be installed. Look out for the wildlife ceramics on the large boulders adjacent to circular path. These were created by ceramic artist J Kay Alpin following workshops with local women.
A free leaflet is available to allow you to follow an interactive Artistic Waymarked trail from Kibblesworth and Watergate Forest Park. Many of the paths you can follow on this Trail were once waggonways along which coal was transported to the Tyne staithes and then on to ocean going ships. As you walk the route you will notice that many of the sculptures make reference to the areas rich mining and railway history.