Cawston Greenway

This is where it gets to be fun!!

Five of us today so Lizzie and Grace did a huge litter-pick, Mick tackled the scrub on the south side of the underpass, and Marcus and me cleared the suntrap to the north.

What we want is certain points along the path that open up into glades and are full of wildflowers, and attract a lot of wildlife. For this to happen we need full sun. We have learnt to our cost that wildflowers and shade don’t really go hand-in-hand in the look that we are trying to get.

We just pushed back the scrub by about two metres on each side. Plenty left for existing wildlife. Next week we will rake it off and grub out the bramble roots.

It’s all about making the path as interesting as we can, and encouraging as much biodiversity as possible.

Paul

The R168 network of paths are a series of Public Right of Ways that criss-cross between the Dunchurch Bridleway, Cawston Greenway and Cawston Spinney. The land that these paths cross is about to be developed.

This is what we will lose.

This is from the Dunchurch Bridleway looking ahead and then back at the start, middle and where it joins the greenway. We snipped back to this point along the greenway, last week.

I would urge everyone to get out on these paths before all this disappears. It really is a fantastic place to be.

Paul

We did our usual Wednesday workday going from the snowdrop bench to Berrybanks. This was litter-picking and snipping back bramble. We then did our weekender, which was from the snowdrop bench but this time heading the other way. We got to where we planted the hedge in the glade with the round picnic bench.

We are doing our best to keep it wide enough so that people can walk two-abreast. Everything is starting to go over and die back. It feels like we will be into autumn very soon.

We also chopped back the Dunchurch Nature Trail path last week, so a decent walk and a good path connecting to Cawston Greenway.

A couple of things in the pipeline –

Dino Trail gets an upgrade so new map and dino pics more secure and blending in better.

Geocaching Trail for families with older children, or adults who are into this.

We have named the benches so people have a better bearing of where they are. Will put on map.

Mark all the entrance and exits on the map so people can plan walks better.

Loads of seeds collected so able to create new glades in the autumn.

Hopefully getting an information board that tells people about the history of the path and the wildlife.

That’s about it for this week.

Paul

We created our first try at the Dino Trail this week. The trail runs from the quadrant of four benches, toward Potford Dam and the last bench. Each bench has a marker that is in the shape of a dinosaur claw and points to roughly where the dinosaur is hiding.

There is a map and tick-sheet on the Dino Trail tab above. This needs to be more child friendly. We are working on it. Also, the white backing on the discs needs to be brown/green to blend in. This will be done on the first upgrade. We just wanted to get it out there and see if people with youngsters can see any value in having this. Any feedback thankfully received.

The path was very busy today and lots of new and exciting wildflowers showing.

Usual coffee, cake and quick look up and down.

Great to see so much colour and variety.

Please do give us feedback. It’s good to know if we are on the right track or not. The ethos has always been that the path is for everyone.

Paul

The railway path is called the Lias Line. This is because it is built on limestone that was formed in the earliest part of the Jurassic period, lasting from about 208 to 178 million years ago. The system of rocks deposited during the Lias, consisting of shales and limestones rich in dinosaur fossils.

With this in mind, I have been trying to put together a trail that has some significance to the path, and is also a fun activity for our younger users.

Meet the team!!

The idea is to have a dino trail with the fellas on circular roundels along the path. I can put a downloadable tick sheet on the blog and hopefully we can eventually get the Augmented Reality bit to work and make everything come alive.

Other that that, me, Marcus and Mick cut back the encroaching growth and litter-picked from Berrybanks to The Bear.

And that really is about it for this week. Lots and lots of hard work ahead when the bird nesting season in over, but for now we are just enjoying the relaxed workdays.

Paul

Once again me and Marcus snipped back about half a mile with our sheers!!! It is pretty tough going. But the coffee and cookies help.

Everybody more than welcome to come along and join in.

Collected poppy seeds from another of my projects. Will be making an area that is just rich in poppies. Looking forwards to that. Imagine wandering through a path of poppies. Devine.

Quick look up and down…

A few more fots of wildflowers. Everything seems to be coming to the end and going over!!! Strange times…

Well done to Lizzie for recording all the wildlife and flora that she is spotting, on iRecord (see tab at the top for more information).

Until next time,

Paul

Our second post-lockdown weekender. Lovely to get out on a Saturday and see loads of different people using the path. We did an urgent cut back on the bit from the snowdrop bench to Potford Dam. It was really getting tight.

We had joggers, walkers and mountain-bikers up and down, so good to feel like we are adding value.

Nice to have a different kind of cookie on our break, great to chat and laugh about stuff. This is such a great thing for mental health. It was pretty hard going today just chopping back the nettles for two hours, but we got there.

Our wildflowers are looking good and seed collection has started for autumn, when we will create new glades and clearings.

We are really happy with how the greenway is shaping up and getting more and more colourful and diverse.

Paul

Well actually bat boxes and a robin nesting box that we needed to get up. What could possibly go wrong?!

After consulting with our wildlife expert, Mick, we felt that the landing-ladders on the boxes were a tadge too short. Luckily we had the tools to improvise and the old boxes to utilise.

Lots of fun getting the things up and really looking forward to them being used.

This clearing has so much going for it. Our bench, bat boxes, the historic bridge, loads of wildflowers coming up where we eased back scrub in the winter, the Cawston Bridleway connection. It is such a great place to be, and holds so many memories of past workdays. I think this was our first clearing some eleven years ago when we started this great adventure.

Here is us having our coffee break and chat.

Thanks to everyone today, we were all superheroes in the way we got around the challenges, and Andrew, for making the things in the first place.

And another superhero is Jade, who sent me these beautiful pics of our wildflowers.

Proper talent and I really hope Jade becomes a regular contributor to the blog.

Next one is our weekender. Saturday 24th. All welcome, sturdy footwear and good gloves. Bring your own snippers so we are not passing stuff back and forth. Meet at the snowdrop bench at 10am

Paul

Blokes – we don’t like talking about our feelings do we? Luckily, because we provide a safe and secure environment, I was able to talk, and talk, and talk. This is what we do. Try and turn to the funny side of life and raise a smile, but understand the gravity of where each of us might find one another.

It was great to chat and also to get from Berrybanks all the way to the start, which is kind of where the cycle path along the Western Relief Road forks, with the greenway to the left and the cycle path on the right.

We just snipped back brambles reaching into the path and a few tree branches that had become heavy.

Loads of happy and chatty people along the way who all seemed to enjoy our efforts.

We have found our first area where we will be clearing out all the scrub in September. Mick identified about 25 wildflowers and because the ground has been disturbed recently with the building of the underpass, there will be loads more waiting to break free.

Next week we are putting up bat boxes that our great friend, Andrew, has made for us. There is also a weekender somewhere in the month so all welcome and all you need is decent footwear, good gloves and bring your own snipping tools so we are not passing stuff back and forth.

Paul

We have now snipped back bramble and litter-picked two thirds of the path. Just Berrybanks to the start left to do, before the cycle starts again.

It’s lovely to see the wildflowers everywhere. Lots of rosebay willowherb about to burst into flower as well.

Look up and down.

Our biggest job in the autumn/winter is clearing back more of the bramble and letting even more wildflowers come up.

Plenty of places to sit and enjoy a picnic or coffee, or even just listen to the birdsong and take in the views across the heath.

Will update July workdays in a bit.

Paul