Cawston Greenway

Merry Christmas from Cawston Greenway

Posted on December 20, 2018 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Our last workday of 2018 happened on Wednesday this week. A litter pick that had the whole two miles of the path covered. Aaron, Victoria, Tom, Marcus and myself picked up a good three or four sacks of rubbish and means we are looking good going into the New Year.

I was getting left behind at one point…

…but I had a good excuse…

…beautiful fungi, the fungi season has started, one of my favourite seasons.

We have plans for 2019 which include hedging the edges of the greenway and have a grant from the CGF for two more community benches. This means that we can push a couple of the rectangular benches down the path towards Dunchurch Station. I am in two minds as to getting a proper notice board and publish what we are doing. The over-riding factor being that the greenway is a platform to form a hobby and either join us on workdays, or just monitor and record the flora and fauna. The end result hopefully will be people forming connections and friendships over a mutual interest. This invariably leads to solving mental health issues like isolation and loneliness.

And lastly a twist…

It’s Christmas, we are on our last workday of the year, Aaron was first to notice a Star of David on a brick by The Bear bridge.

And then we spotted another one…

This one had a W in the middle of the cross. The railway was built in the 1850’s and it would be interesting to find out what significance this is.

But hey, Happy Christmas to all of our volunteers and all of the users of the path. Looking forward to next year and really pushing on…

Paul

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Now we wait…

Posted on December 13, 2018 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

We have done a job in the area where the community bench is. Aaron, Marcus and myself finished off our work in this area.

Last year we put up bird-boxes and feeder stations. We have planted trees and now we have pushed back the scrub and seeded with a wildflower and grass meadow mix that is put together to attract butterflies and moths.

What we hope to get is this…

But turning over and disturbing so much of the soil in this area, means a lot of dormant seeds might be nudged into life. The trick in the spring and summer will be to gently weed out anything that looks like it is going to crowd out everything else. Willow-herb and nettles being top of the agenda.

Hopefully, if this area turns out to be what we think it is going to look like and attracts a lot of butterflies, bees and other insects, then we can gradually scallop the scrub at either end and extend to make a wonderful meadow area.

Shots up and down at the entrance shows how different it is, just a few hundred feet along the path.

The idea is to be able to walk along the wooded bit and then break out into a colourful meadow area with loads going on, sit at the bench and enjoy just being there. Maybe start recording the flora and fauna on iRecord and meet others with a like-minded interest. Share a flask of coffee and hopefully be able to make a platform where friendships can be formed as new hobbies are developed.

Well, that is where my mindset is at and drives me to do what I do.

Thanks all who made it today, and thanks to Nick from Sustrans for popping along and giving us a bit of direction.

Next week is just a general tidy up and litter pick.

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged bees, butterflies, conversation starter, hobbies, loneliness, meadow, mental health, wildflowers, wildlife | Leave a comment

Mini Wildflower Meadow

Posted on December 5, 2018 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Me, Marcus, Kerrie and Ruby made it today.

We have got the meadow seed mix and it was nice to split the session into ripping out bramble roots and seeding the area.

The seeds are from a farm in Alcester, Warwickshire, so you cannot get much nearer than that. It is nice of them to supply a postcard that gives is an idea of what we will look like next summer.

The slog of pulling roots out is almost over.

There are a few bits left to grub out, but not a huge amount. We seeded the areas that we have cleared and hopefully it will make a huge difference next year.

The area where the newly planted trees are, presents us with a new challenge. There are an awful lot of plants growing and it seems a shame to start ripping through this. I think Marcus and myself felt that it was better left, and just clear any scrub that encroaches.

I think we have just two more workdays before Christmas. It would be good to get this area done and dusted before the end of the year.

Thanks all who made it today.

Paul

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Mini Wildflower Meadow

Posted on November 28, 2018 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Today I got there on time!! A miracle, some might say.. lol

I thought it might be worth adding the back story to what we are doing. I ran the idea of removing scrub and replacing it with a wildflower meadow mix, past the Sustrans’ ecologist last year (Sustrans are the land owners). Sustrans thought it was a great idea to be planting wildflower seeds and worked out a management plan for the work that we are now doing. The seed mix has UK provenance and is from a reputable seller called Habitat Aid. So if anyone is wondering why the area looks like a bomb site, I assure you that it is work in progress and in accordance with the management plan given to us by Sustrans.

Mick, Marcus and myself turned up for another gruelling morning.

This bare ground represents three man-hours of work. It is really slow and hard work.

If we do not get the bramble roots out it will simply be brambles again next year.

The last bit to do is around the bench and then the section with the trees that we planted last autumn, and rediscovered when we rolled back the scrub. And this shows how vigorous and smothering the scrub is, if it is left unchecked.

So basically, that gives a potted summary of what we are doing, why we are doing it and the reasoning behind it.

A nice bracket fungus to finish.

Great work today. I reckon we have two more sessions of pulling the roots up. After that it will be much softer work because we don’t want to be disturbing our seed mix.

If anyone wants to come along and help, you are most welcome. Many hands and all that!

Paul

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Wildflower Meadow Creation

Posted on November 21, 2018 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

OMG, today was a killer… We went over the cleared ground on one side of our mini-meadow to remove all the bramble roots. Our choice of weapon was the mattock, which is like a pickaxe but with a flat edge as well as a pointed one. It was really hard work!!

Four and a half of us made it today. Marcus, Chris, Kerrie with a flask of coffee, me, and Ruby, who is the half..

Next week we are going to seed this side with our wildflower meadow mix, and then start on the other side.

We will need to section this into three or four lots and then spend a week pulling out roots with the following week seeding it. If we are just pulling out roots every workday it will just become a horrible chore.

The rest of the time was spent tidying and stuff.

If this area looks anything like what is in my head, it will be amazing, and then we can just add 50 square metre blocks onto each end, every year, as we learn how to manage the area throughout the summer.

meadow

Great job today.

Paul

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Wildflower Meadow Creation

Posted on November 14, 2018 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Four of us made it today. Chris, Marcus, Mick and myself, and boy did we motor through the scrub.

Our mini-meadow will look good next year.

It is going to be tough trying to grub out the bramble roots, which is why we don’t want to try and make a massive meadow in one go. Better to do little and often or we will just get disheartened.

We stacked up the scrub in a huge habitat pile right on the edge of the path.

I think we are making pretty good progress.

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged bees, butterflies, cawston greenway, Cawston Greenway Nature Reserve, meadow, mini meadow, wildflowers | Leave a comment

Wildflower Meadow Creation

Posted on November 7, 2018 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Day two of our wildflower meadow work and we got another 12 mtr by 4 mtr block cleared. Marcus did most of the clearing work and Mick started digging up bramble roots.

Looking up and down from the picnic bench and the clearing is starting to take shape. We had forgotten that we had planted trees in the bit facing south, but it will add to the area, I am sure.

What we are very aware of, is that we don’t want to create a huge area straight away and then be unable to manage it next summer. So we will stick with 200 square metres and really keep on top of it, in terms of weeding out anything that is going to try to dominate. The main culprits will be bramble, nettles and rose-bay willow-herb. We can add another 200 square metres next autumn and kind of carry on over the next few years. We are never going to have rolling acres of glorious meadow because we are confined by our width, but I do feel that we are making the most of what we have got.

The other side of the path is ready to be cleared.

I started on this towards the end of today and it is quite easy to clear.

It is really important to keep the scrub at a good width at the edges. Small mammals will have cover from owls and other predators and, the fruit that it produces is vital for so many species of wildlife.

We need to bring mattocks and rakes next week and really get the earth as bare as possible before putting our seed mix down.

Great work today.

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged bees, bloody nosed beetle, butterflies, creating a wildflower meadow, wildflower meadow, wildflowers | Leave a comment

Wildflower Meadow Creation

Posted on November 4, 2018 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Marcus and myself made it today and we started to create our wildflower meadow. We have allowed our ideas to morph a little bit and are now creating this meadow around the communal bench in the bird-feeder area. It is just so much easier to get to and is the central part of the greenway.

Butterfly_seed_mix

We are starting to clear four 12 mtr by 4 mtr areas around the bench. It is not looking very pretty at the moment (work in progress) but we will focus on clearing the ground and digging out the roots of brambles. Everything that we dig out will be used to create habitat piles for existing wildlife.

This will give us 200 sq mtrs of meadow. We can see how it goes, or grows, and see where we go with it. We can either extend what we have, or create another meadow area further down the path. Clay-wildflowers

We just need to be mindful of how easily we can manage these areas, once they are up and running. We will need to weed out things that start to come up that are already in the seed-bank, or at least keep them in check to give our new seeds a chance to germinate and grow. And we need to be able to mow it at the end of the season.

The seed and grass mix is this:-

35% Wildflowers

3% Yarrow

1% Hedge Garlic

3% Cornflower

2% Lesser Knapweed

2% Oxeye Daisy

2% Wild Carrot

3% Teasel

3% Vipers Bugloss

1% St John’s-wort

1% Field Scabious

3% Birdsfoot Trefoil

1% Wild Parsnip

2% Common Sorrel

2% Red Clover

1% Dark Mullein

1% Tall Mullein

65% Grasses

5% Meadow Foxtail

20% Crested Dogstail

15% Cocksfoot

10% Red Fescue

5% Yorkshire Fog

10% Common Bent

This is a pretty exciting project and brings another layer of biodiversity to this area. To just sit at our bench and watch the birds and butterflies feeding will be fantastic.

If you are wanting to get involved with volunteering and have a love of nature, come along and try us out.

Paul

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Bat Boxes

Posted on October 24, 2018 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Marcus, Mike, Aaron and myself got the bat boxes up. A bit of research and we found out that the entrance to the chamber needs to be 15 to 20 mm wide, so we closed this up a bit. We also found that the boxes need to be mounted close together and facing the sun.

It is all a bit of trial and error at the moment but we can keep an eye on the boxes to see if they are being used.

If we see bat droppings under the boxes we will know that we have bats.

We refilled the bird-feeders and really it is just about me getting back into a routine with the greenway, since moving house.

Lastly, Aaron gave the sides of the path one last mow.

Next one is either meeting at the underpass and working north, or finding a clearing to plant the sack full of bluebell bulbs that Andrew gave me. It will probably be the bulbs, but I just need to find a clearing.

Great day today, great company and good work.

Paul

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Bird and Bat Boxes

Posted on October 21, 2018 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Our good friend, Andrew, made us some more bird boxes and bat boxes. Thank-you, Andrew. Aaron, Mick and myself got the bird boxes up around a nice clearing south of the bird-feeder area.

Two are directly on the path, and high up, and the other two are off the path so will be useful for birds that are not bold enough to use the ones on the path.

The four bat boxes need a slight modification. The slit at the base is too wide and will allow predators to enter the box. The slit needs to be 15 to 20 mm wide. By chance we found a length of timber that we can cut up and reduce the width of the slit. We can then mount the boxes on the oak tree at the start of the big clearing. They need to be 12 feet high and face the sun between south-west and south-east. This will give the bats four different places to roost, depending on the time of the day and time of year.

I have changed Wednesday’s workday to get us back in the clearing to finish off.

Andrew also gave us a sack of bluebell bulbs so we need to get these in pretty quickly.

We have the last few berries on the shrubs and trees so I will order the meadow seed mix and we can start to roll back the scrub, and seed the bare ground. It is very noticable how our widening work last year has created rich grassy areas and a nice open feel.

A tool that we all agreed that we need is a pole saw. We really need to keep the overhanging branches cut back. I will see what I can do.

Paul