Cawston Greenway

We managed to clear the overgrown bramble and other unwanted thuggish plants from our wildflower areas. We still need to rake off the birdfeeder clearing and last bench area, but it feels like we are making good progress.

This should have been done in September, but hey-ho. What we can decide in December is – do we want more wildflower cuttings along this bit? It has to be in areas where there are no overhanging trees and we have to have the manpower to be able to clear them out every year.

Previously we have gone to a lot of effort clearing huge areas of bramble and left it to see what might come up. Mostly this has been nettles, which is a bit discouraging, and then the brambles regrow.

If we decide that we want more wildflowers, to give us more biodiversity, we probably need bite-sized chunks that will take an hour to completely clear out and reseed. But we can stick that on the back-burner for now.

Nice coffee and macaroon break again, even if a bit of a working one. Good to have Cristina, Tim, Marcus, Paul and Mick (briefly) out today.

Next week we finish raking the wildflower areas and pull the bench back up the bank!!

Paul

At one point today it looked like we were running a Time Team episode with Tony Robinson. We literally had trenches everywhere.

We planted the bulbs in the trenches and then sieved the earth back using a griddle. This will hopefully give the bulbs the best chance to settle and grow. I have made a commitment to add 1,000 bulbs every year to this area, and also the existing bulbs should start to spread naturally.

What I am hoping over time is that it becomes a real “go to” when the whole area is covered in a white carpet of snowdrops. Imagine how uplifting that will be in the depths of winter, and then when the snowdrops have gone over, the same thing again with English bluebells.

Really good to set up our basecamp and shelter from the rain whilst enjoying a coffee and macaroon.

It’s all just a bit of fun, a great way to meet neighbours and have that warm fuzzy feeling that we are contributing to the local area.

Also, I have added all the access points to the map, if you click on the map tab above you will see the best places to get on and off. It is the purple markers with a walking person symbol. This should help with people planning walks. We are getting sign posts up at some point, but at the moment we need to catch up on all the lost time this year.

Well, that is it for this week. Anyone who wants to join in please do come along. You can get stuck in, or just do a little bit of a litter-pick and snipping back, if you want to sound us out and see if it’s for you.

Paul

Occasionally people query that we are ruining the wildlife habitat by clearing scrub and making a path. It always brings a wry smile to my face as I suggest that they look at the first few posts of this blog. But just in case, here is a little video called path v. wildlife habitat.

As you can see, I think the wildlife habitat is pretty safe, but just in case anyone is still worried, we do use Sustrans guide books to keep us on the straight and narrow.

We snipped back bramble runners from the Cawston Bridleway overbridge to the bird-feeder clearing.

We are slowly getting back into the routine of workdays. I will bring coffee and cookies next week. The really pressing things are getting bulbs in the ground and clearing out the wildflower areas.

I will list the workday schedule again later today. Loads of good stuff happening in the background that will amaze everyone!

Paul

Sustrans are now allowing workdays of up to six people. Good news.

This week we snipped back the area from the Rotherham Close entrance, to the Cawston Bridleway overbridge.

It’s all about keeping it nice and wide so that there is enough room for walkers and cyclists to pass unhindered, and lots of habitat for the wildlife on the edges.

Plenty to do in the next few weeks and months – replace the bench in the quadrant, reset the bench that has come loose at Berrybanks, mow and rake the wildflower areas (well overdue), give the Dunchurch Nature Trail a hard trim back, snip back the whole greenway, create new scallops in the bird-feeder area, plant a further 2,000 snowdrop bulbs to create our winter wonderland walk, plant 1,000 English bluebell bulbs to create our bluebell walk, manhandle the round bench up the bank, wood stain all the benches, and on and on…

Thankfully it is all good fun!

Paul

Nicely therapeutic workday snipping back anything growing into the path. We worked from the Rotherham Close entrance to the underpass, and back.

The wider the path, the further people can see ahead and the less intimidating it becomes. Sustrans recommend 1 to 2 metres.

Looking up and down. It feels nice and open.

I am in the process of trying to do something with the underpass. Just waiting for some ideas bouncing back and forth with Sustrans to formalise.

Will keep everyone posted.

Paul

From next week we are back loving our fantastic nature trail. We have loads to do and limited numbers allowed, so we will just have to do what we can.

Last week I got the connection to the Dunchurch Bridleway sorted.

As soon as the bulbs arrive, we will be creating a wonderful area. Until then we need to cut back the wildflower areas and also rescue the bench that was thrown down the embankment.

In my mind’s eye, from now to December, the above, and from Jan to March just cut the brambles right back.

Hope to see the many path users soon.

Paul

Two person workdays are allowed, so we put a bench in with an amazing view.

Lots of work to get it straight and flat.

Followed by a coffee and Jaffa Cake break

This is where our English snowdrops and English bluebells will start from. I can see myself spending a lot of time here over the next few months. Not that I am complaining!

Paul