Record Numbers

We almost had the perfect storm today, where nearly everyone on the team was available.

Eleven superheroes turned out this morning, and the autumnal season is really starting to kick in. There was a definite mild chill to the air, and the leaves are turning beautiful golden yellows, browns, ochres, and reds.

Steve, Marcus, Mark, Dave, Ian, Reece, David, Matt, Martin, Andrew, and Paul gathered to work on this difficult bit, due to it being so close to local housing.

The tasks today were to keep the path 3+ metres wide, remove some of the overhanging branches to allow sunlight to get onto the trail and into the understory, and move a bench.

We have a load of self-seeded trees growing on the left-hand side, and we will need to thin out as the stronger ones are allowed to get established. A dense mesh of straggly trunks is not what we want. Thick trunks that can absorb noise from the road, and grow to a decent height, is what we are looking for.

After everyone had chosen their weapon of choice and made their way up to where we got to last week, a few of us tackled the bench move.

Somebody rather rudely made off with the bench that was here previously, so we pulled this one back 100 metres to replace it. I don’t think anyone will want to take this one; however, it does hold huge sentimental value to me personally, and I guess to the members of the team who have rebuilt it so many times over.

A lot of the work today was with pole saws. That is a saw on the end of a pole, and it makes you discover muscles that you never knew you had, and not in a good way.

We also strimmed the grass margin to the sides of the path. The three metre width is the absolute minimum for a mixed-use path and allows everyone, such as walkers, cyclists, mobility scooters, and pushchairs, to get past each other without any problem.

We covered about 500 metres strimming and about 400 metres in overhang removal, so about 300 metres left and two workdays to do it. Super progress.

This is how it now looks.

Loads more light is working its way in and getting rid of the tunnel feeling. People need to be able to see a good 40 metres ahead of themselves to not feel anxious when walking on trails. I think we have got this about right.

Still a bit of scrubby stuff to tidy up on some of the edges, but the main path is kinda there. This scrub removal will become the wildflower-rich grassy strip that we want.

A quick YouTube to show it in real-time.

I had to take this numerous times because of the sheer volume of people walking up and down the trail. They must have thought that I was mad, walking with my phone held out in front of me!!

We strimmed a section of ivy to see if anything else starts to grow. We have way too much of the stuff, and it is suffocating the wildflowers.

Remember, it’s all about balance and biodiversity, and not having a few dominant species take over.

We broke for coffee and flapjack at half-time.

A super team with no big egos and everyone just getting on. Perfect!

We tracked back to the section where we were a couple of weeks ago and dealt with a tree that had tilted onto the path

I don’t really understand how this happened because the prevailing wind comes from the opposite direction, but sorted and cleared.

We also did the usual litter pick.

This is the whole two miles of the trail, there and back.

Lastly, I visited a wood just 2 minutes from where I live, and managed by Warwickshire Wildlife Trust. The experts are saying that in a woodland, trees need to be 2.5 to 3 metres spaced, and be at different ages and types, so that there is not just a huge block of canopy and no sunlight and wildlife underneath.