I’ve come to the conclusion that the people who do the weather don’t actually have a clue…

Twice we have been promised rain, and it never showed up, and now it is hotter than ever!!

We have a scorching 36°C (97°F) tomorrow. It’s simply unheard of here in good old Blighty.

But despite the desire to jump into the nearest lake, nine sun-worshipping superheroes turned out. Ram, Steve, Ian, Dave, Matt, Reece, David, Mark, and Paul.

We’ve got today and two more weeks left before the Bird Nesting Season ends, and we can start cutting back in earnest. To be honest, we’re kicking our heels a bit whilst we wait to get going.

Today we just carried on keeping the sides of the path clear and stopping any bramble from entering the space made for humans. The usual “flop” from all the vegetation has not really happened because everything has flowered, died and turned to brittle stems.

We want to seriously reduce the scrub over the winter and have wildflower-rich grassy banks up the sides.

We broke for coffee and biscuits at half-time.

Why muggins here brought hot coffee in the middle of a heatwave is anyone’s guess…

Nice views up and down the path, though.

We cracked on after the “refreshments”.

We can see from the photos that we need to do a lot of tree thinning. Nothing is going to grow to maturity when everything is competing for nutrients, space, and light.

We did our usual clearing around our picnic benches to keep everyone safe from critters.

Nobody wants ants in their pants…

Whilst all the hard work goes on along the path, there are a myriad of other things happening in the background.

This is the production of Mile Marker Posts, by Dave and Martin, that will be inserted in the autumn. It’s a nod to the railway heritage and history, and just our way of bringing the past into the here-and-now.

Dunchurch Bridleway:

Three of us made it last Friday: Ian, Dave, and Paul, and we pushed back the most westerly bit on the path.

One thing that we really need to keep on top of is sprouts from the trunks of trees.

From my perspective, it just isn’t a good look.

We had coffee and biscuits, as per usual.

And litter-picked the whole path.

When we can, we like to leave what is called standing dead wood. Trees that have died, but are still upright.

It creates habitat for a load of wildlife that is not so keen on using trunks that have fallen to the ground.

Who knew?? Certainly not me until I started spending time with wildlife experts and watching forestry videos on YouTube every week.

Taking us back out to the whole path network, we’re getting close to fully connecting with everything soon.

This is 12 miles away at the other end of the path and is called Offchurch Greenway. At some point, we will be connected.

And whilst I have been busy typing away, we have had a solar eclipse…

Possibly just a little reminder that with all the man-made problems in the World at the moment, time, nature, and the Universe just keep marching on regardless.

Until next time!

Paul