We have one last week until the birdnesting season ends and we can visit our list of jobs to do (top right of menu bar) over autumn and winter.

Six of us made it today and trimmed the path back about 400 metres, fanning out from the bird feeder clearing.

We’ve got the width that we need so cyclists and pedestrians can share the path, we have kinks and curves so we haven’t created a wind-tunnel effect, we have plenty of benches for picnics, or just to sit at and enjoy the birdsong and green space. All-in-all, it has a great feel to it.

The next stage, which just so happens to be a winter job when all the berries have gone, is to cut back the bramble and start to manage the blackberries.

The lifecycle of bramble is – loads of runners but no fruit in the first year, bumper fruit in the second year, stems die in the third year so need to be cut right back to ground level.

It will look something like this – winter 2024 cut back – summer 2025 new growth – summer 2026 fruit – cut back winter 2026/7 so the cycle starts all over again.

If we work out a rotation strategy we will always have a bumper crop of berries every year.

We also need to cut really deep scallops into the path edge. This year we have been a bit quick to get to the edge of the scrub when strimming because we didn’t really have the time and manpower to knock the scrub back into the scallops that we needed. Once we have these, they will be full of longer grass, wildflowers and basically we will be creating little micro-habitats up and down the whole path.

We have been awarded a grant from Warwickshire County Council for a new strimmer and a hedge trimmer so we will have the tools to do the job.

We also litter-picked up and down.

Considering that it’s the school holidays – not a lot of litter at all!!

Someone called Simon gently snipped back the path from Potford Dam down to the A45. No idea who Simon is but thanks for keeping this bit usable.

Here is our YouTube of the area that we did today.

Hopefully, you can see what we are trying to achieve.

Dunchurch Bridleway

Lots happening on this bit of the path. We got the two loops open and also pushed on to the new spine road cutting across the bridleway.

The next jobs are to get the Geocaching trail re-done so it goes past Solstice coffee shop and hopefully encourages people to pop in for a cuppa, and to install our rebuilt picnic bench, once all the berries have gone over and we can cut an area to accommodate it.

Someone has pushed a further 350 metres westward from the spine road. No idea who this is, but good work if it means people have further to walk and cycle.

It comes to an abrupt halt at the last photo, but I am intrigued to see if it will carry on to the end, which is about 250 metres or so. Thank you, whoever you are.

Here is a kinda updated map of the paths to give you an idea where it all sort of fits together.

My plan is to get a Geocaching trail around both loops, and hopefully connect the Dunchurch and Cawston communities somehow, or maybe it will just happen as people naturally forge a traffic-free way through.

Next week we are at the JLR picnic bench snipping back, and after that, it’s all hands to the pump!!

Until then!

Paul