Cawston Greenway

Not able to do any workdays this side of the New Year, but in January both of my boys are in nursery every weekday morning.

This means I can spend a lot of time clearing the areas around the bridge.  Workdays will be just two hours long for me, but at last we can push on and create the habitat to encourage rare butterflies such as Grizzled Skipper and Small Blue.

Keep an eye out for when we start, all welcome and looking forwards to seeing new faces and old.

Paul

I have been a bit quiet of late because I have been wrapped up in looking after my boys, Jack and Kieran. However, Kieran will be starting nursery very soon, so that will give me blocks of time in the week to get onto the greenway.

Weekend workdays are hard to organise because I seem to be juggling childcare with everything else such as bike rides, running, church, spending time with Kerrie and just trying to get my house painted through!! Things should get back onto an even keel at some point, but in the meantime, I think week day workdays are going to be the only way forwards.

I will look at our schedules and see what I can organise for this week, and post it here.

Will be in touch,

Paul

Blog said 12 and then said 4… Sorry, just trying to juggle childcare and failing. However, we got a bit done and it turned out ok.

Beth and Mike helping out. Mick and Graham did a bit earlier as well.

I walked down to the bridge near the Bear and it looks pretty good down there. We still need to rip it all out but our hard work a couple of years ago is holding up.

Next workday TBA but probably 2 weeks away.

Paul

Good old workday today where we did a litter-pick from the underpass right down to the clearing past where the Cawston Bridleway bridge goes over the greenway.

Most of the litter was beer cans, crisp packets and bags full of dog poo. There are dog poo bins on route to the greenway so why people go to the effort of picking it up just to sling the bag into the undergrowth is beyond me? However, it is all litter free once again.

Unfortunately someone has decided to smash up our picnic bench. It might be repairable and I will take a closer look in the week. This is a shame because it has been with us for a number of years and been great for people who want to stop off and enjoy the tranquility of the greenway.

Moving on, the berries are almost over so we can start to really cut back the path and keep it wide and open. This makes it feel safer and allows more sunlight in, which will encourage wild flowers to grow. I also found an interesting toadstool which is something that I have not noticed before. The more diverse the greenway is, the more interesting it will be to walkers.

We have a six month window over autumn and winter to do all the work that we have planned. The big job is clearing the area from the picnic clearing, down to the birdbox clearing. If we clear the banks and lay a hedge on the tops of the banks then this will be perfect for wild flowers and butterflies next summer. We do need more volunteers though. At the moment we barely have enough to keep the brambles cut back.

 Aaron and myself cutting back and picking litter. We did well considering it was just the two of us.

Next workday is Sunday 28th September 4pm until 6pm  at the picnic clearing (where the Cawston Bridleway bridge crosses the greenway). Start to clear the banks and push down as far as we can.

See you there!

Paul

The plan was to start chopping back vegetation that had flowered and gone to seed, but there was just too much going on with late flowering plants and so many berries ripening ready for birds to feed on.

There is no way in a month of Sundays that I am going to mess about with such a huge food-store. What we did instead was just walk up and down the path cutting back brambles. Many people said thank-you as they came past, which was nice.

Plenty of insects were buzzing around and feeding on the late flowering plants.

If you look closely you can see insects feeding on the nectar.

Next workday is Sunday 14th September starting at 3PM. We desperately need to do a litter-pick and we can see how the greenway looks in terms of cutting back. I have a feeling it might still be a little too early. Meet at the hedge by the Drummond Road development.

In general terms I felt that it looked pretty good today. Saw a few butterflies and a good variety of plants. The yellow plant on the right above is Birds-foot Trefoil I think, which is the larval food plant for the Common Blue butterfly, among others.

Great day today so thanks!

Paul

A good workday on Sunday where we spent a bit of time working up the path towards Rugby. This was just cutting back brambles and keeping the path clear. We then worked down the path towards Potford Dam.

I wanted to have a good look over this area because we are going to have another attempt at trying to establish Kidney Vetch plants in an attempt to attract the Small Blue butterfly, an endangered species in Warwickshire.

Small Blue butterfly

We need to clear back the scrub again and then plant as much as we can. It might be a good idea to plant up over a few weekends so that whatever gets eaten by rabbits can be replaced. 

The good news is that the Small Blue has been spotted at Draycote which is less that 2 miles away to the south, and at Newbold, which is less than 2 miles to the north. So this is really one of the priority jobs over the winter. The other priority job is clearing the picnic clearing around the Cawston Bridleway bridge and down to the area that we cleared a couple of years ago and Mick made a living hedge. If we can just get brave with this and chop it all out. It is mostly new growth so should be easy to do. I know that this is very close to Mick’s heart so we really need to get it clear again. What I would like to do with this area is create a habitat that will attract the Grizzled Skipper butterfly. This is another endangered species so it will be fantastic to get this habitat established. We will need to plant Bird’s-foot Trefoil and Agrimony. There are sightings of this butterfly in the grassy area on the other side of the relief road so we should be able to make an impact.

The Small Blue Conservation Project that is down the path towards Draycote looks like this, so we need to try and copy it as much as we can.

I will take a trip to Bishops Itchington to check out the Bishops Bowl conservation area to see what else we might need to do, at some point in the next week or two. They have a well established colony there.

Next workday is SATURDAY 30TH AUGUST – 11am to 1pm. Working in the picnic clearing. I will bring the brush-cutter and we can have a bonfire and clear out anything that has gone over for the summer.

Hope to see you there!

Paul

Great workday today but the brambles have gone completely crazy. The ones that we cut back a few weeks ago are sprouting vigorous growth. However, we pushed on down all the way to the Potford’s Dam end and cleared the path. Loads of people using the path and all happy with our work so good news there.

Looking back up the path you can see Mick working away on the left hand side. The bridge that goes over the greenway is the Cawston Bridleway that goes to Lawford Heath.

We have a lot of blackberries that are almost ready to pick, and lots of wild flowers in full bloom. This is great for the wildlife.

As the greenway heads south the wooded areas break out into more open areas and this attracts a different type of wild flower. I have tried to get Kidney Vetch to grow in this area so that we can attract the Small Blue butterfly, a species that is endangered in Warwickshire. The rabbits had the first lot but I will try again later this year.

Good news from Railway Paths Ltd, the company who owns the land. They are going to put a proper path down which will make it dry all year round.

Next workday is Sunday 17th August starting at 10am and finishing at 12. Meet at same place and push on up the track clearing as we go.

See you there!

Paul

Lovely day to work on the greenway today. Better turnout than last time and the weather was just right. Good to see a lot of walkers and cyclist using the path as we worked away, too.

We are working hard to keep the path clear for walkers, runners and cyclists. Whilst we cannot do a lot of cutting back due to the bird-nesting season, we can just clip back the stuff that is trying to come across the path.

Here are a few examples of what is reaching out to snag you as you go past. Not only at ground level but also at face height. Just remember how bad it used to be when we first started, we would come away with so many cuts and bruises.

Nature-wise the greenway is absolutely teeming. Mick pointed out a lot of different wild flowers and this has brought in a lot of insects which has attracted a lot of birds. It really felt like a well cared for green space today.

Next workday is Sunday 3rd August at 12:30. Just meet at the usual point and aim to get down to the Potsford Dam bridge. Many hands make light work and it is good exercise so come on down and help 🙂

I will bring the tools but you will need strong gardening gloves.

Paul

Short notice, but the next workday will be Sunday 6th July at 12:30. Just an hour snipping back any encroaching brambles that are growing towards the path. Meet at the usual place where the notice board used to be.

I know that this clashes with a load of sporting events, but I will take my chances.

Got some exciting news about another conservation project that I am about to start. Hopefully have more details tomorrow.

Look forward to seeing whoever fancies it tomorrow.

Paul