Well, here we are at the end of another year on our quest to maintain a nature trail that does three things.

Create a wildlife corridor for a biodiverse mix of flora and fauna.

Make the trail accessible to everyone. Youth, young families, mature people, walkers, cyclists, geocachers, nature lovers, picnicers, mobility scooters and pushchairs.

A place to go to find balance and mental well-being. Green time is so good for us all.

I think we are doing pretty well on all fronts, and can now add another pillar to the original three.

A trail that connects communities – Bilton (Admirals), Cawston, and Dunchurch.

If you would like to support us as we move into 2026, hit that Buy Me A Coffee link on the right and drop us a couple of quid. It really does help so much.

Today was bitterly cold with a starting temperature of -2 °C (28.4 °F), so nobody wanted to be standing around for too long.

It’s always a bit tricky organising workdays over Christmas and New Year, but we had a good turnout with Dave, Marcus, Steve, Martin, Andrew, Matt, and Paul. The mission was to cut scallops into the section between the Cawston Underpass and Berrybanks.

The path turns eastward, so we really want to maximise the south-facing bank, but we don’t want to open the whole thing up. We felt that it would be better to have large scallops so that microclimates can exist in little pockets.

Still a little bit of work to do, but it’s taking shape nicely.

We broke for coffee and an assortment of chocolates at half-time.

Great camaraderie and a few groans from my “Christmas Cracker” jokes.

Very much a “don’t give up the day job” response.

We started clearing the wildflower area, but we need to come back and push it out about another two metres.

This does really well in the summer, so it is well worth keeping on top of it.

Lastly, we found a new fungus.

According to my phone ID app, it’s called Brittle Cinder.

Next year, we are hoping to run regular weekend workdays, so that will open up the opportunity to get involved for a few more people.

We also have some smashing plans in the melting pot to make the trail even better.

And with that, thanks to Andrew, Dave, David, George, Ian, Marcus, Mark, Martin, Matt, Nathan, Reece, Steve, and Paul for a fun-filled 2025.

Happy New Year, and don’t forget to hit that Buy Me A Coffee link if you want to support us.

Until next time!

Paul