Transformers

The flowerbeds created by Wild Intrigue have made a considerable difference to the City Stadium site, more so than most parks that are wedded to traditional ideas. 

Is it time for City Stadium to become a new 'park' – Lower Ouseburn Park? The status of the green space is uncertain. One wll informed  opinion I received long ago suggested it had no formal designation, hence plans to tarmac it for car parking were being advanced. That was then. Now, a whole raft of forces and actions make this 'nowhere' position unacceptable. Green Space is at a premium in all cities. In a period of global warming and subsequent impacts on our lives, preserving places such as the City Stadium are no luxury but a necessity for quality of life.

To be continued.

Bee Happy

 Flaming June – maybe!

The open space I call Battlefield (because that is what I felt suited it back when Newcastle City Council had plans to tarmac it) is blooming these days. Wild Intrigue has been making wild flower 'meadows' on site for the past two seasons. This year looks to be a bumper one for their far sighted work.

On a recent walk in sunshine (honest) I saw more bees than I have for sometime. These crucial creatures have been under the hammer in the wider landscape so a very welcome sight. A few photographs:

Sprung not Spring

 My posts on this blog continue to decline. As I explained, I'm old and besides, the panic over what our belovéd Council planned for the City Stadium (a.k.a. Battlefield) has faded without ever vanishing from view.

It seems a long time ago when the green space was to be covered with tarmac and used to park 1300 cars (!) next to a blander than bland set of office blocks. Or the time I was told by P.R. consultants for a following development that the woodland edge of the Stadium was 'threatening'.

Not only have offices as a means to rescue the local economy hit serious problems (and now, A.I. ...) the increasing public demand to have green space properly protected has greatly changed outlooks, if not convincingly, policy.

So, as the pressure on these precious spaces has (for now; who knows what lies ahead!?) decreased, the Stadium and Lower Ouseburn area has thrived. Trees are maturing, wildlife sightings and consequent public engagement has developed alongside at pace.

Below, some recent images taken on a walk to the orchard by Byker Farm, past the Portland Road site of a promised Lidl's store, and into the woodland leading under the 'bridges' to the orchard. Despite the unpromising prospect of attempting to grow fruit tees (or anything) in such poor soils, the trees are still there and still growing. I waited for sunshine but none came, alas.

Water company contractor's doing 'something' at the entrance (blocked) to the Ouseburn River tunnel

New Year – New Tricks

 Another year passes – but not like previous years when all kinds of 'threats' lingered over 'Battlefield'. This seems like a new time for this piece of unregistered public open space. The arrival of Wild Intrigue has been a boon; previous custodians Urban Green were not bad despite the aura of suspicion that greeted them. But Intrigue have really gone big on the Battlefield! Much that has been done this year will only cement the idea of Battlefield becoming a properly registered park, placed beyond the reach of the City's 'planners'.

It is all a far cry from the turn of the century when the green lung of Sandyford and Ouseburn might have been gobbled up by corporate interests.

I still haven't got around to fixing the issue of a blog photographic library that records Battlefield's recent history in the biological sense of growing and developing. I hope to do something, even if just a few images from various decades.

Meanwhile, thanks to Wild Intrigue and their volunteers for the great work they have done and will go on to do to this increasingly precious piece of urban green landscape.

Best Wishes for 2026

January 2016

More Intrigue Afoot

 Wild Intrigue, encouraged by a successful pilot scheme this Spring have gone all in for 2026 with a whole series of wild flower 'meadows' to add to the previous beds that sprang to life in May and June.

Turf has been lifted on plots across the northern edge of the open space aligned with the footpaths. The next phase is seeding later this month. Then it's fingers crossed!

Images of the work in progress:

We can't be sure that this scheme makes the status of the City Stadium (a.k.a. Battlefield) secure given the record of the City Council; but it must help, one hopes, to change their mind over what one of their agents described as 'threatening'.