Nice and gentle workday today with a bit of tidying and clearing of brash in the clearing under the bridge that was once called the picnic clearing. However, without our picnic bench, I think we may just call it the clearing under the bridge for now.

Burning off brash.

To maximise this area we really need to cut back a lot more of the trees casting shade on the clearing. Whilst I would never want to cut right back to the edge and destroy the visual barrier, if we are to encourage wildlife we need sunshine on the ground. The good news is that the greenway runs roughly north to south, so we don’t need to chop the trees at the edges to get the best of the sunshine.

This area should have been full of wild flowers this summer.

In terms of the path, we know that it needs to be a lot wider to accommodate walkers, runners, cyclists, dog-walkers and horse-riders. At the moment all the traffic is concertinaed onto the narrow path and it gets muddy and mucky in the winter. If we push the scrub back and remove the young trees we can create a much more usable green space for everyone.

More dead ground that needs sunlight to bring it back to life.

I will try and source another picnic bench for the clearing. I would really love to make one from the trees that we chop down, but I don’t want people complaining about getting splinters in their bums so maybe I will leave this for now.

I hope you like the new look blog, based on iPhone notes. I like it and it feels quite funky and modern. We have an article going into the Parish magazine around about now and this will hopefully pull in some new blood.

Next workday is Sunday 25th September at a time that I cannot remember, but it is on the last blog. Meet at the clearing under the bridge and take out the last few trees casting shade on the ground.

See you then!

Paul