Litter Pick on Cawston Greenway

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

It was a lovely day for it and we had about seven of us turn out at varying times across the day. We picked about ten bags of litter, some old litter that we missed last time, and some much more recent.

Some of the bags of litter.

There is a problem with dog walkers using poop bags and then just slinging them into the undergrowth. I will see how we can go about getting a dog waste bin put at the entrance to see if we can stop this happening. Other than that, the general litter was drink cans, sweet wrappers and crisp packets. Despite there being ten bin bags of litter picked up, it was actually quite litter-free. Comparing how it was when we started and I think most people using the greenway are not littering.

In the areas that we have widened the feeling of space is really good and grass is starting to grow on all but the central strip.

Grass is starting to grow on the path.

Personally I think we need to keep pushing the edges back so that we have a really usable  wide path that will cope with the trampling of feet and bicycles.

I have taken on the position of Group Coordinator for the Rugby area at Sustrans. If you remember, it is Sustrans who had the licence for Cawston Greenway from Railway Paths Ltd, and that licence was granted to Friends of Cawston Greenway, to enable us to do what we have done. I am now responsible for the upkeep of all the Sustrans National Cycle Networks in and around Rugby, and the Volunteer Rangers who look after them. I think this will benefit Cawston Greenway because we will have a wider understanding of where we fit in with the other routes, and hopefully be able to connect with some of the proposed routes that intersect with us.

The blog for this is at www.sustransrugby.wordpress.com and I really hope that I can make it as successful as we have all made Cawston Greenway. If you would like to get involved just let me know.

Next workday is Tuesday 17th April at 11:00am meeting at the picnic clearing and going over the newly cleared areas to grub out bramble roots and pull up nettles.

Thanks to all who made the litter pick a success.

Paul

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The bird-nesting season is finally here…

Posted on March 11, 2012 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

…and that means that we have to stop chopping away at the scrub and let spring roll into the summer. It also means that we can have our Sundays back too 🙂

I think moving forwards we will probably have a workday every fortnight, one on a Sunday and one on a weekday. There are various jobs that we can be getting on with like litter picking or trimming back any brambles that grow into the path. We will probably spend a lot of time pulling up nettles and digging out the roots of brambles in the areas that we have cleared. What we need is to keep the clearings open and bramble free, so that when we get to September, we can crack on with the rest of the scrub clearance up to The Bear pub, and beyond. There are steps that we need to put in by the bridge over the Coventry Road and also some work to do where the two gates are, and the flooded bit! We also need to start recording flowers, plants and butterflies that we see.

Anyhow, today’s workday was lovely due to the warm weather and we had five of us turning out. We saw a couple of Brimstone butterflies and the noise from birds around us was good to hear. We did a lot of work on the second clearing in the section between the new underpass and The Bear pub.

Second clearing.

If you look at the picture on one of the last few blogs you can see a picture from the end of the first clearing looking towards this clearing before we started work on it. it’s amazing what a difference we are making.

We still need to clear the south-facing bank and hopefully that can be the first job in September.

We also tried to direct the path around a little thicket of bramble. This will provide cover for birds and mammals and also provide nectar for insects that prefer bramble to what ever grows in the cleared areas. It also gives us a windbreak too.

See how we have directed the path to the right of the bramble as well leaving the original path on the left hand side. By doing this it makes the path more interesting and fun for children.

Well that’s about it. Thank-you to everyone who has played a part in where we are up to with the greenway. It really has been a terrific adventure and a really steep learning curve. The last picture is looking up the path from the new underpass and it really does look good.

Looking up the path.

Next workday will be on Sunday 1st April 11am to 2pm and I think we just need to have a good old litter-pick along the whole path and also revisit our management plan to see how we are getting along with it. If we meet at the entrance and I will bring bin-bags and litter-pickers. We also need to plan our AGM for April.

Thanks again to everyone who has supported Cawston Greenway 🙂

Paul

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Cracking day on the greenway

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Me, Margaret and John turned out today and burnt off all the brash left from the previous work day, and we also made some good log-piles from the chain-sawing that Ed had done for us.

Start of a new log-pile.

We pretty much finished this clearing now, and looking from both ends. it looks really open and sunny.

Looking north.

Looking back towards the underpass.

Now that the sun can hit the ground, the puddles should dry out. However, if not there is dryer ground on the left that will become a new path.

Aaron started work in the next clearing and this is where we will be on Sunday, again clearing the bank.

Next clearing along the path.

Hopefully we will have good weather on Sunday and can plan what we are going to do in the bird-nesting season.

Thanks to all who worked on this bit over the last month. It looks really good.

Paul

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Pushing on…..

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Great workdays today and yesterday. Lovely to see that we are making a real difference on this really overgrown section.

Looking back at the new clearing.

Looking back towards the new underpass, the bank on the right is pretty much south-facing. If we can keep the nettles at bay then we should see some really nice wild flowers on this bank.

Looking forwards.... Daunting!!!

Really nice to see Aaron and Ed today. Not seen you for quite a while and also thanks to Margaret and John for your continued support.

Ed chain-sawed the tree stumps that we had left on the last few workdays. We really need to clear the ballast bank on the eastern side of the path, and then let the muddy old path dry out and grass over.

It seems like we have loads to do in very little time!!

Paul

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Confusion on the Greenway!!!

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

I totally forgot that we were supposed to be working at the Two Gates Clearing today, and so did everyone else, except for Christa and Phil, who were left scratching their heads wondering where everyone else was. However, they made a good start on this area and we can finish this off tomorrow. Apologies for the confusion. I do feel a little silly..

Two Gates Clearing.

The rest of us gravitated back to the section north of the new underpass and carried on clearing scrub and burning brash.   Eight of us turned out in total and it was great to see Ed and also young Paul who was back for half-term.

Today we had a lot of sunshine and it was lovely to see it hitting the south-facing bank. I did notice a few nettles coming up and maybe we need to think about what action we are going to take to try and manage this. There is still a load of work to do on this stretch and once again we are torn between trying to blast down to get the distance, or do a quality job on a much shorter distance.

Burning off the brash - look at the sun on the ground.

We have probably got two weeks into March left before we have to stop cutting and clearing. Over the summer we can tend the cleared areas by pulling up nettles and bramble so that wild flowers have a chance to grow. This will then mean that we can really hit the ground running in September with this stretch to The Bear pub.

We also really need to clear the trees on the ballast and make this the new path. It’s slightly higher and dry so it will be well worth it.

Thanks to all who turned out today. It was really pleasant and so many people were walking or cycling past, so we are making a huge difference for our community.

Tomorrow meet at the Two Gates Clearing at 10am to clear the scrub, release the trees and create a new access that is much safer than the current muddy trench that people have to jump over.

Paul

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Half-Term Helpers

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

I have to say that today was great fun, but also really hard work. I don’t know if it’s because we are working on the steep bank or simply that there is just so much to do. However, we reached the tipping point today where we can start to see what the end result is going to be.

Just for perspective, a picture before we started..

This is before we started.

And the rest is afterwards…

Cleared bank with sunshine hitting the ground.

I hate to say it, but both me and John came to the conclusion that the run from the underpass to The Bear pub will probably be the centrepiece of the whole greenway. This is due to the steep banks and the fact that it is almost south facing. Not to worry though because it all adds to the diversity along the path.

John talking to a group of young adults who came along and helped.

We cleared all the brash left from the last workday and my fire lighting skills are getting quite good! However, we did commit the cardinal sin of leaving a load of brash from today’s workday ready for the next. The reason we did this is because it was getting late and if we put it on the bonfire, we have to then tend it until it is all burnt off. I would not be comfortable leaving a raging bonfire unattended. The brash is in lose piles so it should be easy enough to clear.

Brash piled up on the ridge of ballast that will become the new path.

Work on this area is almost finished and we just need a concerted effort to connect the area that we cleared a few weeks back with the clearing that we worked on today. We also need to clear the trees on the ballast path. These are really poor quality and have all grown at odd angles due to being too densely planted.

Working on the bit between the two clearings.

It was really satisfying today to see the sunshine warming the ground. It really is starting to look good. When the puddles dry up it will be quite a special place I reckon.

Thanks to all the helpers today. I have put some more workday dates on the ‘dates’ bit.

Until next time!

Paul

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Brrrrr…..

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

We had some brave souls turn out today, four of us eventually made it and we cracked on with the clearing on the bank past the new underpass.

A 'before' picture of the scrub on the bank.

Boy-o-boy was it cold and wet!!!! But we soldiered on and really started to make a difference. We didn’t have a fire today due to everything being so wet, so there are piles and piles of brash. This is all off the path but it looks a mess. We have kept it in lose piles so that it is easy to burn when we have a fire next. I might try and get down there tomorrow morning at 10am and try and burn it off then. It will just save time having to do it on the next proper workday.

The 'after' picture with bare earth ready to be warmed by the sunshine.

We all worked so hard today just to try and stay warm, I think. The sun came out for a very short time and basically it is pretty much on the clearing that we are making. This will pay dividends in the spring. Encouragingly there were a couple of red-breasted Robins that came to investigate the bare earth. Bear in mind that this ground has not seen the light of day for about thirty years.

Margaret clearing down the path.

You can see how wet and cold it was from the pictures.

John half way up the bank.

So I will try and get down there tomorrow, but failing that, next workday is Tuesday 14th February at 10am.

A rare picture of me actually working, and look at the piles of brash that we need to get rid of!

I will put some more dates on the blog in a while but I just need to be careful that we don’t clash with a few other things going on.

Thanks to all who made it today. Really making a difference.

Paul

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Tree planting postponed due to adverse weather.

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Due to adverse weather this weekend the tree planting is now on Sunday 26th Feb at 12:00.

The ground is rock hard and the snow will make it impossible to do what we need to do.

Look forward to Sunday 26th..

Paul

PS: Does anybody want a session on the greenway instead, or shall we have a cold weekend off?

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Tough day of scrub clearance on Cawston Greenway

Posted on January 29, 2012 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Six of us turned out this morning and had a good old crack at the section from the new underpass towards The Bear pub. It was pretty hard going but we made a significant start. Matt also did a bit of work where the brook is flooding the greenway, so hopefully we will get this sorted sooner or later.

There are three significant things to consider on this stretch.

Firstly the path kinks to the right which mean we have one side of the cutting facing a south-easterly direction. This means it will be in full sunshine for most of the day. I think we need to clear this about a third of the way up for now.

Secondly when the new underpass was put in the earth was cleared and disturbed by the contractors. Due to this some lovely wild flowers came up in the summer. The seeds are already in the soil but just needs sunlight to germinate. If we can get these wild flowers to spread along the cleared bank it will be fantastic for wildlife.

Lastly there is a ridge of ballast on the right-hand side of the muddy path. I think it would be good to clear the trees on this and make this the new path. The trees are really poor value and the roots have not really been able to take in the stony soil. If we remove them it will give us dry ground to walk on and drop back the shade that they will cast on the opposite bank.

The south-east facing bank that we started clearing.

I think it is going to be a tough old haul to get down to The Bear,  but once we are there, the scrub all but disappears and it will just be a case of tree clearing on the path and the lower part of the bank.

Path looking north east showing the ridge of ballast.

It will be nice to get a bit of sunshine so that we can see where the sun is actually hitting the ground, but I guess that will happen soon enough.

Next workday is a real variation on the theme. We are planting trees in the field off Kalfs Drive in Cawston. We have 420 saplings to plant in six areas. We marked out the areas today and all are south facing, so the habitat will be hugely rich in wildlife as it matures. We planted a sapling today and it took about 30 seconds, but many hands make light work so the more people who help the better. Meeting at 12 o’clock on Sunday 5th Feb. Bring a spade and gloves and something to eat and drink. Preferable to walk but if you do drive to the event, please park considerately in Kalfs Drive. Maybe if we feel up for it then go for a beer at The Bear afterwards? We are planting the trees as part of the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations and it is a community event.

Looking forwards to next week, thanks for all who made it today!

Paul

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Wet One..

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

There is a fine line between the brave and the foolhardy, and towards the end of today I was starting to sway towards the latter, but we got a lot done and also cleared the bits where the high wind had blown branches and bramble across the path.

Very wet and muddy workday!

We just eased the path a little wider and lopped any branches on the inside edges of the path. There are a lot of Ash saplings that are growing way too densely, so we need at some point to thin them and try and replicate the Ash coppice at the other end.

Mature trees.

If we can remove the scrub around the trees, the greenway starts to feel a lot wider, like in the photo above, and people can walk off the path a bit. Ultimately I would like to create paths that leave the main path and rejoin it a little bit further on. However, as stated in the last blog, we need to be really careful with this section due to the closeness of the houses and the badger setts.

Next workday – meet at the underpass and decide what to do with the path northbound.

Hopefully it will be a little dryer!

Paul

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