Summer Walk No7, Big Waters Country Park - Tuesday 26th July 2022.

On Tuesday 26th July, fifteen members attended the Big Waters Country Park near Brunswick Village for walk
Number Seven on the summer programme of visits to places of local interest. The park covers an area of over
twenty hectares and comprises a lake, stream, ponds, marshland, woodland and meadow where a large variety
of wildlife may be seen throughout the year.



Leaving the car park at the south end of the park, members headed towards the lake where Canada geese,
Mallard ducks, Moorhen and Tern were seen. Large reed beds cover the north and south shore and fringe the
south east corner of the lake. Several good footpaths made it an easy area for members to explore as they
looked to practice their photographic skills on another fine evening.



The lake was formed in the 1920's by subsidence, when underground mine workings along the Hartley Burn
collapsed and flooded. Mining dominated the area and the east end of the site was still being used for the
disposal of colliery shales during the 1960's. Designated as a nature reserve in 1964, substantial landscape
work was undertaken in the 1970's with the land levelled and trees and hedges planted. Although the now
reclaimed coal waste soil is nutrient poor, this has allowed some grasses and plants to flourish, with rampant
growth of Ladys-Mantle on the banks of the burn.



Heading east, these circular paths lead you through meadows filled with Queen Anne's Lace, also known as
Wild Carrot, with mixed woodlands of Ash, Birch, Hawthorne, Pines and Spruce trees. Rosebay Willow Herb,
Common Ragwort, Hairy Willow Herb and Teasel were amongst the flowers identified and photographed
during the walk. As the light began to fade, we regrouped on the lakeshore before some headed home,
whilst others waited for the sunset on the water to end another successful visit.



Davy Bolam.