Cawston Greenway

A Way Out…

Posted on October 8, 2018 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

We all need a way out sometimes – so today we created another way to get off the greenway. This time it is just before you get to the old Dunchurch railway station.

The picture really does not do it justice. When the chopped back vegetation dies away it will be a bit more defined. This picks up the path that runs all the way to Cawston Lane on the edge of Dunchurch.

We snipped back the bramble from Potsford Dam to the station. It just seems too early to start clearing the fruit-rich scrub.

Quick look up and down..

And side to side..

Gives us a flavour of where we are and how lovely it is.

Future dates for this month are – Sunday 21st 10am to 12, Wednesday 24th 10am to 12, Wednesday 31st 10am to 12.

Good work today.

Paul

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Our last day of the summer in 2018

Posted on September 19, 2018 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

The greenway did have a feel about it, that it had given its all over the hot summer and was now rapidly falling into a sleepy rest over autumn and winter.

Chris, Marcus, Aaron and myself started at Potsford Dam and worked south just gently snipping back the scrub to get a bit of width.

The scrub needs to be pushed back one metre on each side, on an alternating basis, This will create a wavy path with little hot-spots for wildlife. We cannot do this yet because there is a rich harvest of fruit and nectar still on offer to wildlife that need to stock up for the winter.

Plenty of fruit on offer.

Nectar still available from some late flowers, but getting rare.

Cawston Reservoir is still looking very sorry for itself. I wonder when the levels will be back to normal.

Great day today.

Paul

We are getting a huge amount of use…

Posted on September 17, 2018 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

….which is a great thing. Marcus and myself must of seen about 40 people in different groups, on Sunday. This is great news and shows how we have progressed over the years. A nice wide path brings in the users.

Nice fungi photos as the season starts for this.

Still plenty of berries for birds and others to fatten up on before winter.

A quick up and down shows how we are looking. Pretty good!!

Next one is Wednesday. Come along and get involved!!

Paul

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Feeling summer is over

Posted on September 4, 2018 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Marcus and myself made it this week. We topped up the bird-feeders and then headed south just snipping back any bramble growing across the path, and picking up any litter. We got to the Potsford Dam bridge so a lot of ground covered.

What we need to be doing next month is rolling back the scrub, digging out the bramble roots, and seeding the bare earth with our wildflower meadow seed mix.

This month is where we are caught between the seasons and cannot really do much. The bird-nesting season is over, but there is no way that I am going to cut back the fine crop of fruit that is there for the wildlife. They will fatten up on this as they get ready for winter.

Being so close to it, we can really see how the madly vigourous growth is now really slowing down as the summer ends. Really quite interesting to see.

Next one is Sunday 16th and much of the same.

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged bird feeders, conservation, flora and fauna, meadow, mental health, nature, photography, wildflowers | 1 Comment

Two workdays rolled into one

Posted on August 13, 2018 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

A lady walked past today and suggested that we had been working all night, because we were here yesterday as well, and she had seen us. I found myself agreeing and saying “I wish”. The greenway is such a nice place to be at the moment.

So Sunday was with Marcus, Steve, Mick and myself and we just cut back any bramble that was looking to come over the path. This was from the bird-feeder clearing to the steps down to the reservoir.

Monday, it was Mick and myself and we did the same from Berrybanks to the bird-feeder clearing.

Amazing how theraputic this is.

We found a whole new colony on bloody-nosed beetles down past Potsford Dam and also this.

Love on the rock…

We put it in another hidden place, but not too hidden.

And lastly we topped up our bird feeders.

We are just trying to create a place where people can meet, share a flask of coffee, chat about the birds that are feeding, or whatever, develop a common interest and hopefully forge a bit of a friendship. It really is as simple as that.

And if anybody would like to join us on a workday, we are just a relaxed group who keep this little slice of wildlife accessible and open.

Thanks all,

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged bloody-nosed beetles, community, conservation, cycling, friendship, mental health, Mountain-biking, nature, photography, running | 1 Comment

Back on the hedgehog trail

Posted on July 31, 2018 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Lovely day on the greenway today. We had Debbie from Warwickshire Wildlife Trust helping us to do some hedgehog monitoring.

Food is placed in the middle and non-toxic ink either side of the food. The nocturnal hedgehogs are regognised by their footprints left on the white paper.

We have three tunnels set up and it will be interesting to see what the results are.

We also fixed a couple of the lose steps that head down to Cawston Wood.

And lastly, we seem to be tripping over bloody-nosed bettles at the moment. Five spotted last week and six spotted today, and we are not actively looking for them.

So a pretty productive workday.

Paul

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Routine Maintenance

Posted on July 10, 2018 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Mick, Linda and myself made it today and just cleared around all the benches, and snipped back any bramble that was making a run for it over the path.

Cinnabar moth caterpillars on ragwort are always a welcome sight.

Mick has spotted ladies bedstraw, a wildflower that bloody-nosed beetles like.

This is looking south from the last bench. The scrub stops and the rabbits keep the grass short.

This is a good example of how it can look.

Paul

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We have created something really special

Posted on July 3, 2018 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Due to posting up the workdays for July just a few minutes before the first one (internet problems) I found myself on my own at the bird-feeder clearing. It was nice to just potter about, sit at the bench and just take in the beautiful area that we have created.

We have yellow rattle and it is spreading. This wildflower is semi-parasitic to grass so will help to open up the ground and allow more wildflowers to germinate.

Unfortunately another camera user error caused 90% of my pictures to be totally over-exposed, but hey-ho.

Here is a picture of the bench.

Next one is Monday 9th at 11am.

Paul

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First Marbled White Butterfly Spotted

Posted on June 28, 2018 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

It is probably not something to shake the world, but to me it is a great find. I spotted a marbled white butterfly for the first time on the greenway. Lovely to see something new.

marbled white

Four of us today, Linda, Marcus, Ruby and myself. You have to start them young to get their interest…

We started where we left off on Sunday and our first job was to bend the hooks to close them up a bit. This should stop the squirrels knocking the feeders off the posts so easily.

The seed feeders really are on their last legs now and need replacing.

After the hook modifications, we headed south and just snipped back anything that was starting to leap across the path.

A quick look up and down shows a rich and diverse habitat. Loads of butterflies basking in the sun.

Great day today. Fantastic way to make new friends.

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged bird watching, butterflies, community, conservation, cycling, nature, running | 1 Comment

We covered some ground today…

Posted on June 24, 2018 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

We certainly did cover a lot of ground. We met at Berrybanks and headed south, just snipping back any bramble that was starting to leap across the path. Wildlife superheroes today were Mick, Dale and myself and we got down to the bird-feeder area and then back.

A quick look up and down shows how we are looking. We need path, grass, lower flowers, higher flowers and the shrubbery and trees/hedge on the edge, ideally.

The seed feeders are hammered but I keep strapping them up. We are getting our money’s worth whilst the squirrels are getting their money’s worth of our free food.

Loads of butterflies and other insects today, but trying to do a survey really needs to be a day just for a survey. Trying to work and survey just does not work.

And this is an area we cleared of scrub last year.