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-

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

Such fun dragging the benches back up onto the path…

It gives us the chance to suss out the weak points and reinforce and re-stain.

The wildflower meadow was planted in autumn rather than spring. Not sure if this is a good idea going forwards because the bramble has gone a bit wild…

And the path is really closing in now.

And of course, our all important coffee and cookie break.

Next week we are at the second round bench.

I cannot stress enough how good this is. Totally relaxed and just a load of people forging friendships and doing stuff with purpose. Come and join in… Just bring biscuits…

Until next week!

Paul

We learnt this last couple of weeks that out-of-the-way benches and other nice things like food for the birds, nesting boxes, bug hotels, etc, etc, just don’t mix. Wooden benches can be repaired, and bird feeders can be replaced. That is all I am going to say on the matter…

So back to our bench maintenance program. The benches are starting to show signs of stress and rot. We will do our best to replace or shore-up the broken bits. I am pretty proud of how we keep it all workable and it’s great for us lot to be challenged with repairing them.

A good old litter pick and sit down to enjoy a coffee and cookie afterwards.

See how the path is slowly creeping in. The colour explosion is about to happen!!

We have an upgrade to the Dino Trail which I will do over the weekend. Thank you Sophie C – it looks brilliant.

Geocaching is also getting an upgrade. I have done three out of the 12 so far. We are getting close to 900 finds in 4 months!!

We are also starting to collect nesting boxes for the two areas on either side of the underpass. We are probably looking at about six to eight on each side. So far we have five. Some new, some refurbs that we can rebuild.

There are also a load more older boxes that need the metal plate over the hole that the woodpeckers have wrecked. 25mm for blue tits and 28mm for great tits. Work for the Autumn.

Flora and Fauna spotted over the last two weeks-

Any errors please just shout out. We are all in this together!!

Next week we are re-staining the benches (again) and strimming the vegetation around the bases. Working north to south.

There is a pond that we can build into the path. For the life of me, I cannot work out how to connect the two, but it is there and in the Autumn I think we should go for it. I shall apply to the CGF for a round bench in the area.

Usual stuff to finish – please drop us a couple of quid a month via the Patron link on right, if you can. But more importantly – just come along and join in. It’s so good for mental health to be doing stuff with a purpose.

Paul