Cawston Greenway

Us Four v. Storm Imogen

Posted on February 8, 2016 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Well what a workday!! John, Aaron, Mick and myself battled against Storm Imogen to get the job done. And boy, did we get that job done!

greenway bridge

This is the south side of the bridge, you can see that we are stacking up the brash under the bridge to dry it out. Today was so wet that the fire just did not want to take, without constant babysitting.

We are well on our way to clearing out the whole of this cutting, however, we are leaving little sections of scrub so that we have wind-breaks and, also gives us micro-habitats with the south-facing sides of the clumps. The north-facing sides will attract fungi and a host of insects that like damp and cooler habitat.

greenway me

A rare picture of me on the right!! You can see how wet it is. We brush cut the higher path on the left, and scalloped the scrub on the right. We need to have a big tidy up in this area, which is just raking off the ground, but we could do with some sunshine to dry it out a bit.

Great day today where it would of been so easy to have left it.

NEXT WORKDAY IS OUR FAMILY WEEKENDER ON SATURDAY 13th FEB. SAME AREA AND JUST PUSHING ON. 12:00 START.

Paul

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

Log Piles and Dead Hedges

Posted on February 1, 2016 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Today Mick, John and myself made it. We decided to not burn everything and instead, build a few piles of logs and brash, and also add to the hedging at the top of the clearing. We burnt off the really thin brash and just cleared, and cleared, and cleared…

This clearing is looking really good now. I think we can say that we are finished here and can move on to the other side of the bridge.

We had about three minutes of sunshine and it did look good as it hit the bank on the right.

The piles of brash are way off the path and will provide good habitat for a host of insects and spiders.

We just pulled as much as we could up the slippery banks and shoved it on top. In time the whole lot will drop down and be compact.

The hedging is not pretty, we simply don’t have time to make it so. But it acts as a great barrier and also is habitat for mammals and other wildlife.

Same place next week, but other side of the bridge pushing on.

I have changed the start time to 9:30 because I am struggling to get there for 9:15 after the school run.

Great day today!

Paul

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

Three Men, Two Fires, Lots Cleared.

Posted on January 25, 2016 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

John, Aaron and me today and we started to clear all the brash from last week. It just seemed like endless toil, but we got two fires going and piled them high.

There is still a little bit left to do next week, but we can crack on with that whilst Mick starts brush-cutting the scrub on the other side of the bridge.

The whole cutting on this side of the bridge is open and starting to dry out. There will be plenty of sunlight and dappled shade in the summer.

Looking down the path as the fires die down. We felt today that we had made huge progress in this cutting. It really started to feel well managed and ready for spring.

Same place next week, probably an hour on this side and then start pushing down on the other side of the bridge.

Great work today.

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged bees, butterflies, cawston, cawston greenway, conservation, cycling, nature, NCR 41, outdoors, volunteer work, wild flowers, wildlife | 2 Comments

Now that is a clearing!!

Posted on January 18, 2016 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Lovely workday today with Aaron, John, Mick and myself getting stuck in. We cleared back the Picnic Clearing northwards until we were out of the cutting and on flat ground.

You can see how wide we have made the path. This will allow people to walk on higher ground ans let the muddy bit settle down a bit.

Looking south, down the path. The fire didn’t really get going today due to everything being so wet from the snow. We put the brash to the left of the path ready for burning off next week. The scrub on the right hand side creates a bit of a wind-break so we will probably keep this.

This is the bit before the clearing goes into cutting. We can trim back the left hand side so that there is plenty of width.

Last week Mike from Butterfly Conservation did some work on our other cutting.

This south-facing bank is going to be seeded with a wildflower mix that will attract butterflies and bees. This might look like total carnage at the moment, but it will be superb come summer.

This runs from where we were cutting it back in September, down to Berrybanks.

We can probably clear the rest of this cutting next season. For the rest on this season we are going to push on down towards the Bird-box Cutting. We have until the end of March until the bird nesting season starts and we have to stop cutting back. So ten more Monday workdays and two weekenders.

Thanks to all who made it today.

Paul

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

New Path

Posted on January 11, 2016 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

We have talked about it for so long and I think the total mud-bath that the path has become forced our hand somewhat.

We brush-cut a new path on the slightly higher ridge of ballast that runs alongside the old path.

You can see here what we have done, and how muddy it was. It did not deter me, Aaron, John and Mick though and we ploughed on with it.

The difference is great, and as people walk on the new path, the old path will hopefully settle down a bit.

Next workday will be in the same place. I will burn off as much of the brash from today that I can and we can keep pushing on with the new path.

Thanks to all who made it today.

Paul

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

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

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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.