Cawston Greenway

Weekender

Posted on January 9, 2016 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Brilliant turnout today with about twelve of us meeting up in the Picnic Cutting to burn off the piles of brash, that we had stored under the bridge to dry it out.

I got the fire going very quickly and we just spent all afternoon piling it high.

Mick had a go with our new brush cutter and gave it a big thumbs up!

The amount of ground cleared was very quick so this will help massively in coming weeks.

Ideally we want to clear down to the Birdbox Cutting and then up the banks. We have about 13 workdays left before the bird nesting season starts and we have to stop cutting back.

We will then spend our time managing the clearings, which will probably mean brush cutting nettles until wild flowers can take hold. And keeping the path between the clearings well trimmed back.

End of the day chewing the fat as the fire burns down.

I have added a page that gives details of anyone who has helped us with finances, advice or anything else. Please take a look. It can be accessed from the tab bar. If I have missed anyone, please let me know.

Thanks to all who made it today. Back on Monday trying to get there for 9:15 after the school run.

Paul

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

Late Update – sorry!

Posted on January 8, 2016 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

The last two greenway workdays are rolled into this one blog entry.

We have been working in the Picnic Clearing and have just about finished it on the Rugby side of the bridge.

This is Aaron cutting back a load of scrub on the eastern side of the cutting.

This is Mick cutting back ash tree saplings that just keep growing and growing.

And this is the clearing. We now have a brush cutter, thanks to a very generous donation from Railway Ramblers. We can use this to clear the other side of the bridge, down to the Birdbox Clearing. We are fully insured as a group to use the brush cutter.

The next workday is our weekend family one, Saturday 9th January at 12:00. Feel free to pop along and see what we are up to. You can stay for the afternoon or just half an hour or so. We will be burning off all the brash from the last few workdays. I have stored it all under the bridge so it should be pretty dry.

Thanks everyone for your continued support with our great conservation adventure.

Paul

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

Damp Day

Posted on December 14, 2015 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Aaron, Mick, John and myself today. Everything was very wet from all the rain over the last week so I eventually abandoned the fire. I dragged all the brash under the bridge so it can dry out and we can burn it all off on the next family day.

The clearing on the west side is looking really good. Aaron and John did a lot of work on the east side and this is starting to look good too. Mick worked on the Ash stumps that are growing again.

We raked up all the bits of branches and leaves into piles. This will be good habitat for insects and small mammals over the winter.

The hedge on the top of the east bank is starting to take shape.

THERE IS NO WORKDAY NEXT MONDAY DUE TO IT BEING CHRISTMAS WEEK.

The next workday will be on Monday 28th December starting at 10:30. We should have our brush-cutter by then so can really start pushing down towards the Birdbox clearing.

Thanks to all who made it today and here’s wishing everybody a very merry Christmas.

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged cawston, cawston greenway, conservation, conservation work, cycling, national cycle network 41, nature, volunteer work | Leave a comment

Pushing Down

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Good start to the tidy-up from the week-end today. Aaron, John, Mick and myself today and we started to burn off the brash.

The problem with these mid-week workdays, is that the time goes so quickly!! Just as soon as we get the fire roaring, we have to stop putting brash on it so that it burns itself out. Most frustrating!!

Mick cutting down the brash.

The next few weeks will be clearing the other side of this cutting, and then clearing both sides as we work down and connect with the Bird-box Clearing. We have until the end of March to get as much scrub ripped out as possible. Our new brush-cutter will be delivered this week, so that will make easy work of a lot of the scrub.

If you look closely you can make out John. He is making a hedge up on the top of the cutting.

Thanks for all who made it today. Same again next week. The more ground that we can get cleared, the more diverse the wild-flower growth in the summer, and that means more butterflies and wildlife.

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged butterflies, cawston, cawston greenway, conservation, national cycle network 41, nature, outdoors, volunteer work | Leave a comment

My Favourite Bit of the Greenway

Posted on December 5, 2015 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

The Picnic Clearing is my most favoured part of the greenway. I have fond memories of Edmund here and love to see the daffodils come up in the spring, that I planted in memory of him.

Today we had an army of NINE of us and we cleared the south-west bank completely.

I hedged the top of the bank to create a good habitat for a great many mammals and birds, and also offer some protection for butterflies and bees in the summer.

We need to rake off the bank and let the sun do its work on the seeds that will be in the ground. The other side of this cutting needs to be cleared and then the same again on the other side of the bridge.

There is a huge amount of brash that we need to strip down. We can burn most of it and add the bulky stuff to the hedge.

Everyone really busy chopping and cutting the scrub back.

Next workday is Monday at 9:15am – same place.

Next weekender will be Jan 9th 2016.

Thanks to all who made today such a success.

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged cawston, cawston greenway, community, conservation, conservation work, greenway, nature, NCR 41, volunteer work, wild flowers, wildlife | 1 Comment

Back in the Picnic Clearing

Posted on November 30, 2015 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Mick, Aaron, John and myself today and we kept relatively dry considering the rain forecast.

John finally got the fire going, after I had long since given up on it. Very smoky as you can see.

We just started to pull all the scrub off the banks of the cutting. It will be a lot easier on the next workday because we will have our new brush-cutter that Railway Ramblers kindly funded for us.

Great start today.

NEXT WORKDAY IS OUR FAMILY WEEKENDER. SATURDAY 5TH DECEMBER AT 12:00 IN THE PICNIC CLEARING (IT IS ON THE SOUTHERN STRETCH WHERE CAWSTON BRIDLEWAY PASSES OVER THE GREENWAY).

Paul

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Fixing the Waterworks

Posted on November 23, 2015 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Aaron, John, Mick and myself this morning and we tackled the last bit of work on the drainage.

The problem that we have is that the drain covers that would have been either side of the track, are now higher than the ground. This means rain water cannot escape. This problem is confounded by the stream that passes under the track, that the drains lead to, is blocked. This means that the stream is dumping its water onto the greenway, rather than flowing under it and along on its merry way.

We have dug a gully and tried to direct the water across the greenway and have lifted the drain cover to allow the water to drain off. We have also created an area that will act as a flood plain. Hopefully this will hold the excess water when we have heavy rainfall.

This area was totally flooded before we started.

We have built a hedge around the wet bits. This is to stop people walking into it. We made a dry path to one side. This area will be great for wildlife. There is ivy that will grow across the hedge and I intertwined a few living trees into it.

Our first visitor!

Great work today. Also great work from Sam and crew on the clearing that they are working on.

Next week we are back in the Picnic Clearing ripping out everything ready for spring. 9:15 am start.

Paul

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Sorting out the drainage

Posted on November 17, 2015 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

John and Mike today and had a good old crack at sorting out the flooding at Berrybanks.

There is a culvert that runs underneath the trackbed and is accessed via two drain covers on either side of the path.

Unfortunately it is blocked so the water has to travel across the top of the path.

The water wants to run down the path rather than across it, so the challenge is to dig a deep enough channel to keep the water in the right place.

We will keep working on this bit until we are confident that the fix is permanent.

Next week – 9:15 am start.

Paul

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Last workday on this section for a bit.

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Five of us today, John, Aaron, Kerrie, Chris and myself, with a cameo appearance from Mike at Butterfly Conservation. Always happy to take guidance from the experts. The good news is that we are on the right track in creating a superb butterfly habitat.

We spent the first hour clearing the last bit of brash from the bank and when this was done, we brought down a few more trees on the edge of the clearing and started stripping these and throwing the brash on the fire.

We now hand this area over to Sam and gang to work on it to get their Duke of Edinburgh award. They will be clearing the north bank and creating a dead hedge at the top of the bank.

When we got to the point where the fire was starting to burn down, Aaron and John had a look at the flooding at Berrybanks. Before long a trench was dug on top of the underground aqueduct and most of the water was running over to the other side of the greenway.

A lot of work to do in this area, but whilst it is so wet, it is easy to see where the water is trying to flow to, and redirect it. Because of this, we decided to work on this area next Monday. We can route the path either side of the trench and create a lake in the middle.

Our next weekender is 5th December at 12:00 helping Sam and gang clearing the north bank of Bluebell cutting.

Our next weekday is 16th December at Berrybanks starting at around 9:15 am.

Thanks for all who made it today.

Paul

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Saturday Family Workday

Posted on November 7, 2015 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

We had an army of helpers today. Eight in total and we spend the afternoon clearing the brash from the previous workday. We had torrential rain all morning so everything was absolutely soaked. After a slow start by myself, Andy rescued the fire with dry kindling and after about two hours it was finally roaring away.

The bank was incredibly slippery but we managed to get a good few larger logs up onto the dead-hedge. I found a holly sprig up next to the hedge. I will try and get this to grow over the hedge in the summer.

This cutting is going to be the centre-piece of the greenway, with its south facing bank. However, we need to sort out the drainage issues by Berrybanks.

The water needs to run across the greenway and carry on its merry way to the river Avon, not up and down it. A project for April when the bird nesting season starts, I think.

Next workday is Monday in the same place, 9’ish start time, and then we hand over to Sam and his gang to do their Duke of Edinburgh award for the next 12 Saturdays. We will join them on weekend workdays, but will concentrate on the other clearings on our mid-weekers.

Next weekender workday will be Saturday 5th December at 12:00.

Thanks to all who made it today.

Paul