Cawston Greenway

Stressful Day

Posted on September 7, 2022 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Today was incredibly stressful due to oldest child going up to secondary school and today was his first day. It has been a stressy slow-burn getting here and suddenly the ratchet notched up to the max as the day finally arrived. It all turned out OK, of course, and I am sure most of us have been there.

For me and Kerrie, there is a no better way to try to dissipate that stress than a session on the greenway.

I am allowing myself to be heavily influenced by Warwickshire Wildlife Trust and their woodland management guides. Basically it is all about varied canopy, lots of sunlight, the woodland edge, not overcrowding trees, and paths so people can actually enjoy the woodland.

So with this in mind, we eased back the heavy growth on the edge of the path to help the dappled sunlight hit the ground.

Some people might say, “oh but the view is of houses…” but it’s not really about the houses, it’s about the wildlife on that edge.

This is not what we want…

An old oak tree having a load of other stuff trying to grow through it causing all sorts of stress.

From the Woodland Trust: Oak, English (Quercus robur)

The ruling majesty of the woods, the wise old English oak holds a special place in our culture, history, and hearts. It supports more life than any other native tree species in the UK; even its fallen leaves support biodiversity.

So there you go!! We really need to be giving our large trees the space and room to grow without competition.

To finish, here is us lot having a cuppa and cookies!! Seven of us today (me and Mick out of shot) – a good turn-out.

We carry on working on this bit next week. It’s starting to look pretty blooming good as a secondary walk and we will make it open and non-intimidating, like the top path.

If you want to join in, be a patron, or support us by buying us biscuits (Lotus Biscoff are my faves), you know the drill….

Until next week!

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged butterflies, cawston greenway, community, conservation, cycling, nature, outdoors, volunteer work, wildlife | Leave a comment

Quite a bit to share this week

Posted on August 31, 2022 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

The main thrust of this week’s workday was clearing some of the thicker branches along the new 225 metre Hawthorn Walk at the south end.

In my mind’s eye, I can see a hawthorn and bramble hedge along the fence-line, mature trees released from the tangle, the dense canopy broken down, and the tree structure varied in age and type.

Imagine what this walk will look like in the Spring – full of beautiful white blossom, and then Autumn – red berries galore with birds hopping about feeding up for Winter.

When the heavy vegetation on the sides is cleared it really does feel like a more open and friendly space.

Sunlight floods in and this will bring wildflowers and wildlife. It also gives people a different route to take when walking back and forth, which is part of our pledge to make the path as interesting as possible.

We had a coffee and cookie break and also did a litter pick up and down the first half-mile.

Beer cans and bottles mainly collected – sadly all empty!!

We can now have signs telling people where they are and what the path is called.

We are going for the old ‘totem’ style signs in the original LNWR colours.

I like this for two reasons. It gives us an identity and also just recognises the history of the railway line.

The signs will be 92cm long and 25cm at the wider part and 15cm at the thinner part. The question is, do we try and make them ourselves, or buy them from a sign making company?

A few people have expressed concerns about the steps leading up to the Cawston Bridleway.

We’re looking at what we can do and how we can go about it. The days of us lot carving steps out of the slope are well and truly over, so if it does happen it will be a proper job <did I just hear a collective “phew!!”>.

Well that’s about it for this week. Plenty of fruiting trees and shrubs. Blackberries galore. The path is dry and reasonably wide so enjoy it in the last throes of summer.

As the economic landscape worsens and household budgets get tighter and tighter, we are always here doing our thing and having a laugh. Come along and help. It’s free, friendly and does wonders for mental wellbeing. And if you bring biscuits we promise not to tie you to a tree…

Until next week!

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged butterflies, cawston greenway, community, conservation, country walks, Countryside paths, cycling, nature, outdoors, running, volunteer work, wildlife | Leave a comment

Another Duke of Edinburgh Award Signed Off

Posted on August 24, 2022 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

This week we tried to get our triangle of benches in place. Sadly it was not to be.

Max asked if he could do his DofE with us, so we gave him all the usable bits of the smashed up bench, and said “see what you can make out of this lot”!!

The plan was to have three benches in a triangle to represent the recycle motif. Sadly, due to some really heavy substance under the ground, we had to abandon the idea. We are sitting on a culvert so it might have been something to do with that.

So we set the other two benches on the other side of the path. It gives people the option of sitting face to face if in pairs, or singular if alone, or sit on one bench and use the other for a flask of coffee and biscuits. The permutations are endless!!!

The bench recycle layout was probably a little bit of vanity and a little bit of virtue signalling from my part, anyway. The good thing is that these benches are made from an old bench that was given to us, that we upcycled, a couple of years ago. What we see today is the third incarnation of that original bench!! Well done Max on making this happen. A well deserved Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Just when you thought that you has dodged that little bit of a virtue signalling, I am gonna catch you with another…

I have started my collection of local wildflower and grass seeds. Or course we will be buying a decent seed mix, but we do collect a lot of local seeds from various places to keep adding to the biodiversity.

Lastly, the path up and down and our coffee and cookie break.

By now you should know the drill… Support us via the Patron link above, or even better, join in. To be doing something with others on a regular basis, and with purpose, is so good for mental wellbeing.

Until next week!

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged benches, butterflies, cawston greenway, community, conservation, cycling, Duke of Edinburgh, nature, outdoors, picnic benches, railway paths, running, Virtue Signalling, volunteer work, wildlife | 1 Comment

Itching to get going this year!!

Posted on August 17, 2022 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

We are getting close to the fun bit of the year. That time of the year where we can start clearing out the wildflower glades, cutting back, and generally putting in the work for next year. I have a rough plan but more of this later.

Today we welcomed Mitch to the team (thanks for the biscuits) and snipped back brambles between Berrybanks and the Cawston Underpass.

The underpass has had some unnecessary words written on it. We painted over the offending scrawl and colour-matched to cover the rest, next time.

Loads of people have commented on how much better it is, so we want to keep it looking good.

We also replaced a couple of missing geocache containers.

The geocaching trail is complete again with all 12 containers back in place. The caches have been found a total of 1,093 times since we set it up at the start of this year.

Here is the rough plan for the autumn and winter. Nothing is set in stone and everything is changeable…

Make Potford Dam wildflower glade larger and seed with wildflower seed mix
Develop the hedge next to the middle round bench
Develop the hedge and path next to the wildflower meadow
Open up the tree canopy to let more light in, especially around the benches
Create a clearing on the south-west side of the Cawston Bridleway bridge and seed with Kidney Vetch to try and attract the endangered Small Blue butterfly
Cut the path back hard in cuttings to make higher and drier ground available in winter
Put up new birdboxes and fix damaged boxes
Increase birdfeeder wildflower glade in size slightly northwards.
Make underpass wildflower glade slightly larger and seed with wildflower seed mix
Reset the missing benches in the quadrant
Set the benches in the triangle

That lot should keep us busy and give us a fantastic path next year. We are going to start keeping the path edge shorter throughout next summer so it doesn’t feel quite so tight as everything starts to fill in.

Next week we are at the southern end hopefully putting in the triangle benches.

Until then!

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged bird nesting boxes, butterflies, cawston greenway, Cawston Underpass, community, conservation, cycling, geocaching, Mountain-biking, nature, outdoors, running, volunteer work, wildflower glades, wildlife, woodland ride | Leave a comment

We Broke Through!!

Posted on August 10, 2022 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

We had a last minute change of plan. The triangle of benches are ready but we just couldn’t get them on-site today.

So we worked on the secondary path south of the birdfeeder clearing. We broke through and we now just need to wait until later in September to really clear it out and make a decent wildlife hedge along the edge.

Remember, it is all about the edge and sunshine, and a very mixed and different aged canopy of trees above, to support a biodiverse amount of wildlife.

According to The Wildlife Trust, the canopy needs lots of gaps to allow sunshine in, wildflowers and grasses then grow, insects move in, birds move in and mammals move in.

Plus, it creates a smashing there-and-back non-linear walk with super views across the wildflower meadows.

Great day today, but this really made it…

Victoria baked a super lemon drizzle cake and we just had a picnic!! The amount of people who came past and had a look of “WOW!!” in their eyes was incredible.

If you want to join in – you know the drill. Just page back on previous blogs if you need a reminder but “biscuits” feature a lot!!

Next week we are between the Cawston Underpass and Berrybanks just knocking back the path.

Until next time!

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged butterflies, cawston greenway, community, conservation, cycling, headspace, nature, outdoors, Picnics, railway paths, running, volunteer work, walking, wildlife | Leave a comment

A little bit of sunlight makes such a difference…

Posted on August 3, 2022 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

We had another good old poke about in the path that runs on the Cawston side of the main path.

What we are trying to do is create a second 225 metre path along the edge of part of the greenway. This creates a better there-and-back walk for everybody and breaks up a totally dead zone. The tree canopy has been allowed to become far too dense and nothing can grow underneath it. It needs to be thinned out and different trees allowed to grow to vary the structure. This will mean a much more healthy and biodiverse path, great views from the new route, and loads more wildlife.

We now have butterflies chasing around, spiders making webs and birds flitting in and out from the wildflower meadow.

Great views, too.

Coffee and cookie break at the halfway point.

We can develop a wildlife-friendly hedge along this bit in September.

Flora and fauna spotted:-

Common Mallow
Cuckoo-pint

Next week we are replacing the smashed-up bench with something that is a bit of fun and practical.

See you next week!

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged butterflies, cawston greenway, community, conservation, cycling, nature, outdoors, running, volunteer work, wildflowers, wildlife | Leave a comment

Week One of the School Holidays

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

A gentle workday today with just a litter pick and snipping back bramble, from Potford Dam to the Cawston Bridleway clearing, which is about half a mile. Mike also snipped back nettles at Berrybanks.

A lot of the fast growing plants like nettles are wilting badly and falling into the path. Too hot and a lack of rain, probably.

We also dragged a picnic bench up the bank and back into its place!!

Luckily, because we spent a lot of time reinforcing it a few weeks ago, it doesn’t appear to be damaged.

The quadrant of benches made for the youth to sit and do their thing has been vandalised. We are not fixing this until September. Maybe if anyone knows who is vandalising the benches, they can have a word – these people are spoiling it for themselves as well as everyone else.

Flora and fauna spotted

Common Carder Bumble Bee
Elmleaf Blackberry
Hornet Mimic Hoverfly
Tree Bumble Bee
White Tailed Bumble Bee
Woolly Burdock

That’s really it for this week. Still caught up in having to do remedial repairs, which is a little irritating, but hey-ho!! We all have a laugh and stuff, doing what we do.

We have loads of stuff planned for after September but you will have to wait and see. It’s all good stuff and making the path more and more interesting.

Please patron us a couple of quid a month if you like the path and what we are doing. It keeps us in coffee and biscuits. But way more importantly, if you need to connect with people, have a bit of conversation, do something with purpose and meaning, find a bit of mojo, or whatever, you are more than welcome to join us in this great adventure.

Until next week!

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged bees, butterflies, cawston greenway, community, conservation, cycling, mojo, nature, NCN41, outdoors, running, volunteer work, wildflowers, wildlife | 3 Comments

Small Step Backwards for a Huge Step Forwards

Posted on July 20, 2022 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

There is something that has not been sitting well with me for a while now. Whilst I think we are 99% on the right track, there is something that I eluded to a couple of weeks ago.

We seem to have developed into a huge green tunnel.

What we need is loads of open views and areas that look across Cawston and the other way across Lawford Heath.

I went to the new bit of the Lias Line today to just kinda refresh my thoughts and get some new ideas. The amount of space that is open and offering superb views is incredible.

This is the way to go on our bit.

Today we carried on with trying to open up the views and it was tough going. Brambles two inches thick and so much dead wood.

But the rewards are there for all to see. A beautiful wildflower meadow full of bees and butterflies.

I think we need to move away from the hidden path, and the vandalism that seems to have bugged us this year, and make it much more open.

Flora and fauna spotted this week-

Hoary Willowherb
Azure Damselfly
Bittersweet/Woody Nightshade
Common Blue Damselfly
Purple Hairstreak Butterfly
White Legged Damselfly
Yellow Sweet Clover

That’s it for this week. A very tough workday and hardly any photos. But we have a clear focus and add into that, the wildflower meadows, and we are onto a Sustrans led direction that will see us right.

Until next week!

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged butterflies, cawston greenway, community, conservation, cycling, nature, outdoors, running, volunteer work, wildlife | Leave a comment

What a Crazy Few Months!!

Posted on July 13, 2022 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

You would think that with 13 years of doing this, we would sort of know what we are doing… But we are forever getting curveballs thrown at us and the ‘plan’ has to be totally fluid to cope with all the things out of our control.

It’s been a challenging and sometimes emotionally frustrating few months, but we seem to have come out of the other end if it.

It’s nice to see our wildflower meadow at Potford Dam has matured from an annual cornfield meadow, into a perennial meadow. It is so much better for the wildlife and it is now able to look after itself.

We continued to make ‘windows’ along the green corridor. Massively important to get dappled sunlight onto the path to encourage wildflowers and wildlife, and I want a piece of that wildflower meadow out there!!!

It also makes the path feel less hemmed-in and less claustrophobic.

Kyle joined us to get a few more DofE volunteer hours under his belt and we all enjoyed a coffee and cookie half way through the morning.

Hopefully we will be putting our new benches in next week or the week after. It’s gonna be a good one!!

Flora and fauna spotted this week…

Comma
Field Scabious
Gatekeeper
Great Willowherb
Meadowsweet
Royal Mallow
Teasel
Yarrow

Feel free to join us in any capacity. Bring biscuits and we will love you forever… If you can afford a couple of quid a month, bung it our way via the Patron link above. But seriously, I know it is extremely hard to put a happy face on and be all outgoing when life is getting tough for so many people. We are always here, laughing at each other and just rubbing along doing our thing. The offer to join us is always there.

Until next week!

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged butterflies, cawston greenway, community, conservation, cycling, jogging, nature, outdoors, running, Trail-walking, volunteer work, walking, wildflower meadow, wildflowers, wildlife | 2 Comments

Flip-Flop

Posted on July 6, 2022 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

I am not normally one to dither and hesitate, but today I found myself flip-flopping about what we are doing.

Three things were on my mind – something that Michael Drummond from Warwickshire Wildlife Trust said some 13 years ago – Always make sure your results are greater than your efforts. IE: Don’t waste your time of stuff that will give you a poor result.

Someone from Sustrans said that we should create “windows” so people don’t feel trapped in a huge green corridor.

And lastly, don’t start upsetting the biodiversity unnecessarilly.

We are looking at an area at the bottom of an embankment and wondering if we can do something better with it. It’s about 225 meters in length and has a nice flat base. When we went down there, it is totally dead. Nothing is growing, it is dark and shaded, and there is no sign of any animal life.

We pushed along the flat bottom, clearing a few scrappy branches, and cut a few windows.

Wow!!! The sunlight came flooding in and the meadow next-door is literally buzzing with bees and butterflies.

We are just going to keep poking around to see if a bit of effort on this bit will give us a great result.

The Potford Dam wildflower mini-meadow is now it it’s fourth year and is now pretty much self-sufficient.

This is a good example of what seemed like a lot of effort for little return initially, but has turned into a huge return, so I guess instant results are not necessarily what we are after, but some sort of result.

Wildflowers spotted:-