Cawston Greenway

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

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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

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Damp Squib

Posted on November 2, 2015 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

All the expectation was there today with John, Kerrie, Chris, myself and Mick, but everything was just so damp, and no wind to fan the flames, that we eventually kicked the fire out and called it a day.

We did bring down a lot of brash ready for the next workday, however.

At one point we looked like professional loggers, with trees down all over the place. The fire just could not keep up and, with all of us with other stuff to do throughout the day, we just tidied the path ready for next time.

We are so close to finishing this bit. Probably two or three more sessions and then rake off the bank to expose bare earth. It will be so interesting to see what comes up in the spring.

Clearing the way.

Next Saturday is our family weekend workday starting at 12. At the moment it looks dry on the days leading up to it. The plan is a big bonfire and burn off all the brash lying about, and add to our hedge of tree-trunks.

Thanks to all who came along today.

Paul

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The end is in sight….

Posted on October 26, 2015 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Beautiful day today and five of us volunteered our time and effort to crack on with what hopefully will be Bluebell Cutting.

Chris, Mike, Aaron, Mick and myself got a fire going really quickly and half of us brought down some trees whilst the other half of us stripped and burned the brash, and also dug out a load of old brash.

We put a lot of branches onto our dead-hedge and this is going to be hugely beneficial for wildlife in the future. Many insects, mammals and fungi will slowly get established here. We maybe could of packed it down a lot more densely, but again, time is not really on our side to make everything pretty and perfect.

Just one last bit to do and we are finished on this bit. This is a picture of what we need to clear. The whole area was as dense as this, back in August.

Just remember that we are trying to create a haven for wild-flowers to grow, to attract butterflies, bees and birds, and small mammals.

Thanks to everyone who gave their time today. We are making great progress.

Paul

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Clearing.

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

A lovely morning where we just spent the time catching up.

Mike, Aaron, Chris and myself. We caught up with burning off the brash from last week, and adding the the hedge at the top of the cutting. We also planted a load of bluebell bulbs that were kindly given to us by a local resident.

Next weekender is Sat 7th November starting at 12:00.

Same place next week where we can carry on towards The Bear. There is a lovely mature tree that will make a nice feature of the cutting. This is where we need to get to.

Great day today.

Paul

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