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

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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.

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Amazing how theraputic this is.

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

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Love on the rock…

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

And lastly we topped up our bird feeders.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Cinnabar moth caterpillars on ragwort are always a welcome sight.

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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It is now full of rose-bay willow herb so will have purple flowers in the summer and be a great nectar source.

We can pat ourselves on the back for this.

Lastly, a video clip of our bird-feeder area. It really is something special.

Next one will be from the bird-feeder area and head down just snipping and clearing the growth around the benches.

Our Wednesday workdays will then close and Mondays will restart.

Thanks all, today.

Paul

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Wildflowers

Posted on June 7, 2018 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

If you are wondering what a wildflower meadow looks like – here is one we made earlier…

This is at Berrybanks, and Linda and myself spent a couple of hours puling up nettles. This area was dense scrubby habitat a few years ago and we cleared a lot of the scrub and put down a wildflower seed mix. It is now open and full of all sorts of wildflowers and grasses.

This has brought in loads of insects and birds.

DSC_0455The only butterflies seen was a couple of speckled woods. The rest of them were probably waiting for the sun to come up over the tree shade.

DSC_0426The wild strawberry is playing host to a good number of dragonflies. Plenty of blue ones and a black one. Too quick for my phone camera though.

The drain is working again but there is something blocking it. It seems to be something plastic but a poor choice of footwear stopped me getting down to have a better look.

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And lastly a little video clip to bring it all to life.

Already looking forward to next week.

Paul

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Our first bloody-nosed beetle sighting

Posted on May 31, 2018 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

The bloody-nosed beetle is a bit of a rarity in Warwickshire. Luckily we have a thriving colony.

Sadie, Linda, Louise and myself put on our wildlife superhero outfits today and got down to the path with the intention of clearing all the nettle growth from under the benches.

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I discovered a “zoom” function on my phone’s camera but what I didn’t realise was the focus went completely out of the window. I will be replacing these photos ASAP…

DSC_0414We also topped up the bird seed and fat ball feeders. The bird-feeders were incredibly busy with mature and newly fledged blue tits and great tits on them constantly.

DSC_0402A cheeky grey squirrel tried its hardest to get to the food, but didn’t quite have the nerve to try and jump from the tree. It was a close call though and just reinforces our need to have a ten foot air-space around the feeders. However, anything more than this leaves the feeding birds at risk of attack from sparrow hawks.

Great work today from everyone and good to keep the balance of a working path and public amenity open, whilst working with and encouraging the flora and fauna.

From July we have the opportunity to flip our weekday workdays back to a Monday. It makes no difference to me, but I know that a Wednesday does clash with other people’s commitments.

Paul

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Nicely dodged the thunderstorms

Posted on May 28, 2018 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Our workday was nicely wedged between two thunderstorms, and you could feel the heavy air as we worked, boy was it humid.

Four wildlife warriors made it today. Mick W, Arron, Mick D and myself.

Our first job was to clear the overgrown steps down to the reservoir. This was just cutting back nettles and cleavers. We threw the cuttings back into the scrub so any insect larvae or eggs will survive. A couple of the steps need a small repair, but it is all functional again.

DSC_0367The steps lead down to the network of paths around Cawston wood and a stream that allows us to water our wildflower bed.

DSC_0358 DSC_0361There are 30 different wildflowers starting to come up and I am looking forward to seeing them flower and then seed. We will need to give the area a very heavy rake in the summer to create bare ground, so the seeds can find the soil and germinate.

Bizarrely, if you go down the steps there is a nature-made buttercup meadow.

DSC_0370 If we could just transfer this up onto the greenway… haha!!!

We do have a number of wildflowers with the dominant ones being bird’s-eye speedwell and buttercup so we can encourage these as much as possible.

We just need to create the correct conditions for this to spread, which means getting rid of the scrub, nettle and other invasive weeds. We also need to introduce yellow rattle to slow the vigorous growth of the grass.

We spent the rest of the day just cutting back any bramble that looked like it was about to make a run for it across the path, and trying to untangle any that was growing amongst the wildflowers.

Loads of walkers and cyclists coming past today. It’s great to see the path getting so much use.

I have done as much research as is humanly possible to get us a mini wildflower meadow established. I have run the plans past people with excellent wildlife knowledge and they think it is workable, but I am winging it a bit, so if anyone can offer any insight, please be my guest. Remember though, we cannot use any vehicles and we absolutely will not use any form of weed-killer.

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/paul-hayden-hart to contribute to our seed fund.

And lastly, here is the guide from our seed supplier.

Paul

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