Cawston Greenway

Next Draycote Workday..

Posted on September 22, 2016 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Next Draycote workday is Sunday 9th October at 1:30pm. Working on the bit next to the golf club. We can park at the golf club and gain access via the public footpath. Ask at the golf shop for directions and they might ferry us across on a golf cart. CANNOT USE POWER TOOLS AT THE MOMENT (plans underway to change this).

My thoughts are this: The original path is pretty wet. I want to try and cut small gullies into the west side of the path, so that the water can run off. Bring a spade to create these gullies.

We also need to remove the overhanging branches that are stopping the path from drying out. I will bring five or six bow-saws so we can start cutting the overhang back. I don’t want to cut anything on the golf side if possible so that their view and buffer is not affected.

I had a good meeting with Sustrans today and they are very happy with our work. However, we need to think about the long-term implications of everything that we do. So please, please, please, if anyone thinks, “hang-on, if we do that, this might happen” please just shout it out.

So next workday, bring a spade and a saw and let’s see if we can push on for another half mile.

Streetlife progress is here –https://www.streetlife.com/conversation/mbfd83l0m9l2/

Blog at – www.cawstongreenway.wordpress.com

It’s looking good, so far!

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged bees, butterflies, cawston, cawston greenway, community, conservation, conservation work, cycling, greenway, grizzled skipper, kidney vetch, national cycle network 41, nature, outdoors, path, small blue butterfly, volunteer work, walking, wild flowers, wildlife | Leave a comment

Wednesday is the new Monday

Posted on September 14, 2016 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Our first Wednesday workday went well. Inching further ahead with the removal of the overhang at Berrybanks.

It is certainly dryer underfoot where we have cleared in previous weeks.

Mushrooms growing!

Next workday is Thursday 22nd September in the same place. We then alternate between Wednesdays and the weekend.

Steady progress today.

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged butterflies, cawston, cawston greenway, community, conservation, conservation work, cycling, greenway, national cycle network 41, nature, outdoors, small blue butterfly, volunteer work, wild flowers, wildlife | 1 Comment

Draycote to Potford’s Dam

Posted on September 11, 2016 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Well what a great first workday getting the path cleared. We had about 15 people turn out and managed to cut the path back so it is now about six foot wide. We did about half a mile, which I am really pleased about, Progress at this rate will see us break through really quickly and then we can widen the wetter bits so there is dry ground to walk on.

Looking towards Draycote. Nice wide path that feels comfortable to walk down and hook up with National Cycle Network 41 to get to Leamington or Draycote Water.

Looking towards the A45. We cleared this to about six foot wide and got to the wet bit next to the golf club.

We have two options with this next bit. We can either brush-cut a new path on the slightly higher ground next to the puddled path, or we can dig drainage channels along the existing path so that the standing water has somewhere to drain to. I think the latter option is the one to try first. I sort of made a channel with a stick where there was a large puddle and it drained ok. With a spade and some deep channels I reckon we can have this section dry on the next workday.

Whitefields Golf Club have been absolute superstars in helping us gain access and on the next workday, we are allowed to park in their car-park and, they will ferry us to the path on golf carts.

We need to get rid of the over-hanging trees so it is bow-saw or if someone has a chain-saw to speed up progress…

Great day today and so good to see so many people turn out to make this connection from Potford’s Dam to Draycote a reality.

It is all about this post. It is going to get harder and harder as we get closer to the A45, but if we are resourceful and keep an open mind, we can create a nice wide and open path that will be a lovely and rewarding route connecting the north, west and south of Rugby to Draycote, via the Western Relief Road cycle path.

Massive thanks to everyone who turned out today. Community spirit at its best.

Next one is October 9th at the golf club. 1:30 start.

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged butterflies, cawston greenway, community, conservation, cycling, Draycote, national cycle network 41, nature, outdoors, path, railway paths, sustrans, volunteer work, walking | Leave a comment

Soggy One!

Posted on September 5, 2016 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

It was a bit of a damp morning after three or four days rain, but we carried on clearing the overhanging trees at the Berrybanks section.

Mick and Steve tackling the wet scrub. We are slowly inching towards the underpass. Nice to welcome Steve today, who joined us for the first time.

We found this little fella, who kindly stood still for his photo-shoot. Good to see all sorts of new wildlife as we clear the scrub.

Next workday is at the Draycote end of the half mile stretch that runs past Whitefields Golf Club. 1:30pm on Sunday 11th September. It is very wet and very prickly so wear protective clothing and footwear. Bring anything that will cut back the scrub and a rake to pull it all out.

Making progress!

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged bees, butterflies, cawston, cawston greenway, community, conservation, conservation work, cycling, greenway, grizzled skipper, national cycle network 41, nature, outdoors, small blue butterfly, volunteer work, walking, wild flowers, wildlife | 2 Comments

Cutting Back Again

Posted on August 29, 2016 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Today the three of us had a good look at the trees for any late nesting birds, found none, so decided to get stuck into clearing the rest of the path at Berrybanks.

The overhanging branches are stopping the path from drying out.

Once we removed it the sunlight came flooding in and will cover the whole path as the sun comes round.

Same place next week where we will clear a bit more, and have a big bonfire to get rid of the brash from today.

Paul

A Very Reflective Day…

Posted on August 22, 2016 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Well this was the last of our “easy days” where we are just picking up the small amount of litter, and cutting back brambles that look like they are about to break out across the path.

Behind this easy time, of course, is a lot of planning and working out what we are going to be doing in September, and onwards.

Looking northwards at Mick as we work out what we want to achieve next year. We want the path a little wider so will knock back the vegetation a bit over the winter. We need to watch what we are doing on the Cawston side of the greenway because they are building houses on the Cawston Extension, so we need a dense buffer between the new houses and the path.

Another beetle found today, which tells us that there is a lot going on in the foliage.

We need to somehow keep our bit cleared and brushcut back. But also workout how we are going to find the time and people to get the section from Potford’s Dam to NCN route 41 at Draycote cleared.

It is my mission over the winter to break through and reach this marker-post. The arrow is pointing towards Draycote Water.

It is just 1.6 miles from Potford’s Dam to this marker-post and just over half a mile that is overgrown and wet. I really am looking forward to clearing the path so we have a green corridor down to Draycote that is totally traffic-free.

Loads to do and never enough time to do it, but we re-group at Berrybanks next week and start the planned works there.

Great day today.

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged butterflies, cawston, cawston greenway, community, conservation, conservation work, cycling, greenway, national cycle network 41, nature, NCR 41, outdoors, small blue butterfly, volunteer work, wild flowers, wildlife | Leave a comment

It’s Looking Good!!!

Posted on August 15, 2016 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Today I jumped on at Berrybanks and walked down to the bird-box clearing, where I met Mick and Aaron. Picked up about a third of a bag of litter. Some of it was aged stuff and a little bit of fresh, including pop cans and sweet wrappers. I also cut back any bramble that looked like it was about to shoot out across the path.

Mick and Aaron had been doing the same way further down the path, so we got a lot of ground covered.

Looking southwards. Aaron is down there somewhere. Notice how green the path is, now that we have made it a lot wider.

Mick is down there somewhere as I look northwards.

And Mick found this interesting beetle!

So far we have identified various areas that we want to tackle in September and on through the cutting season. These are..

Berrybanks: remove the first line of trees on the path where it has not been cut right back, plant a wild flower meadow seed-mix on the floor of the cutting. Clear a meter wide strip and plant kidney vetch exclusively so as to attract the small blue butterfly.

Bird-box clearing: extend the clearing southwards into the cutting.

Beyond the bridge where we officially stop: rip a three meter wide path all the way down to Draycote. It is 1.6 miles so the total length of what we will be looking after is going to grow from 1.9 miles to 3.5 miles. However, it is only about half a mile that needs totally ripping out and the wet ground sorting out. The rest is pretty clear.

With the existing clearings we will need to brush-cut the bramble out so plenty to do.

Great day today.

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged bees, butterflies, cawston, cawston greenway, community, conservation, conservation work, cycling, greenway, grizzled skipper, kidney vetch, national cycle network 41, nature, NCR 41, outdoors, small blue butterfly, volunteer work, walking, wild flowers, wildlife | Leave a comment

More litter-picking

Posted on August 8, 2016 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Me and Aaron today and we carried on with the litter pick pretty much where we left off last week.

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Two big sacks full of old beer cans and general litter.

We have covered all of the ground now, so it is just about keeping on top of any new litter that appears.

Same time next week but heading south to see what we need to start cutting back in September.

Great day today.

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged cawston, cawston greenway, conservation, litter, litter pick, NCR 41, sustrans, volunteer work | Leave a comment

Bear Litter-Pick

Posted on August 1, 2016 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Mick and me finally got down to the bridge that goes over the greenway by The Bear pub. We wandered up to Berrybanks and then back again, picking up as much of the litter that we could reach.

It was pretty nasty with a lot of broken beer bottle glass and dog poo bags down by The Bear. This is probably why we have been avoiding this area!

The big clear-up!!

About eight bin-bags of rubbish waiting for collection. With this area we need to cut back as much of the scrub as we can, either side of the bridge. This will really open the area up and the bridge will become a feature of the path. This is another job for the winter.

Berrybanks sow thistle has gone to seed so we will have to see where we are with this next year. There are loads of other plants so we might find something else becomes dominant.

Whilst the sow thistle is not very exciting to look at, it is an excellent nectar-source for pollinators, so I am really torn between letting nature just do her thing, or spending a load of man-hours trying to control it, when we could be doing more productive stuff.

We just need to keep the path clear of bramble and litter through to the end of August and, according to the RSPB, the bird-nesting season is over and we can start cutting back the areas that we have highlighted. We will have from September until the start of March to do our heavy work.

It is all pretty exciting at the moment, however, I have a major problem with my hours at work, childcare and finding time to be on the greenway. Monday term-time becomes an impossibility from early September so this messes up a lot of our workdays. What I am thinking is alternate Wednesday mornings and Saturday mornings. This gives people who are unable to join us on a weekday, the opportunity come down on a weekend and get involved.

Please let me know your thoughts on this…. I am between a rock and a hard-place..

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged bees, butterflies, cawston, cawston greenway, community, conservation, conservation work, cycling, greenway, grizzled skipper, kidney vetch, national cycle network 41, nature, NCR 41, nettles, outdoors, path, small blue butterfly, volunteer work, walking, wild flowers, wildlife | Leave a comment

Berrybanks – a plan!

Posted on July 25, 2016 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

We had a good poke around at Berrybanks today and formulated a plan.

The wild strawberry plants are doing ok but the kidney vetch is looking like it is struggling a bit. The sow thistle is rampant but there is a mass of other wild flowers under it. Nothing is growing on the base of the cutting due to the heavy layer of chippings.

The plan that we devised is this:

We are going to rake off the chippings and sow a limestone meadow seed mix. This will be 80% grass and 20% flowers. We will also seed with yellow rattle to keep the grass under control. We can add cornflower seeds to get a blast of colour whilst waiting for the meadow seed mix to become established.

We are going to stake out meter-wide strips going up the bank and plant with kidney vetch. We will weed out anything else that grows within the strip. This should really help the kidney vetch to get established and will eventually attract the endangered small blue butterfly.

We are going to cut back the first line of trees between the cleared area and the underpass. This should help the path to stay dry on wetter days, because it will get rid of the overhang that stops the ground from drying out, and give a wider path to walk on.

That is about it for this area, so a lot of our efforts will be focused here in the autumn. If we can successfully create a wild flower meadow the importance of this part of the greenway will skyrocket.

Next week we are at The Bear bridge clearing up all the litter and rubbish down there.

Well done Mick, Aaron and me on a very productive day.

Paul