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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Smokin’…

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Arrrgh!!!! So much to share…

We cleared the brash left from yesterday and sorry to all the residents on the Coventry Road. We did have a really smoking fire and the high wind took it straight over the fields to your houses and the road. I was expecting another visit from the Fire Brigade, but thankfully it did not happen. We are finished at this bit for now so don’t worry about a repeat performance.

I have never seen the fire so hot - the wind really stoked it up!

At some point we need to make some steps down to the road. We have a really steep bank and it will be a challenge. I think we might have a go at this in the summer.

How to turn this into steps..... hmmm....

But anyway, this is the really exciting bit. I planted a load of Kidney Vetch seeds in the autumn and they seem to be coming up. Kidney Vetch is the sole food plant for the Small Blue butterfly caterpillar. If we can get the grassy area at the end of the greenway rich in this plant, we can then hopefully attract a Small Blue colony. Small Blue is an endangered species and a lot of work is being done further down the line to create habitat to allow them to thrive. I am so excited to be doing something to support this.

I really hope that this is Kidney Vetch seedlings.

We need to push back the bramble but keep the hight, so that the grass can spread  but be sheltered from the wind. If we can get this whole area rich in Kidney Vetch then it will be fantastic.

If we push the bramble back to maximise the grass, but keep it on the edges to create a wind barrier, hopefully this area will be suitable for the Small Blue butterfly.

At the other end of the greenway I am hoping to create a similar habitat for the Grizzled Skipper butterfly, which is another endangered species.

Next workday is starting at the underpass and working south. Aaron has done a lot of good work on this section already and basically we just need to ease the path out without taking down trees. There are a lot of badger setts so we need to be careful and we are quite close to houses, so if we just gently ease the path wider and then move on to the section north of the underpass, which is chopping trees on the south facing bank.

Thanks to the five of us who made it today. We really got a lot done and it is nice that we can walk away from the Potford’s Dam end knowing that it is looking good. I did a bit of tidying as I walked back today so we really can push on northbound.

Until next time!

Paul

 

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Fire Brigade came to visit Cawston Greenway…. again!

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Well we had it all today, howling gale, sheeting rain, bramble that was so obnoxious and rude, ripped gloves, pricked hands, a bonfire that wouldn’t start, and when it finally did, someone called the Fire Brigade!!!!

Fire Brigade.... again!!!

It’s just a bit annoying that someone who is in real need of the Fire Brigade could be compromised because they are having to deal with the call to us. We have a fire every weekend in the cutting season so it really should be obvious that it is us. If you see smoke and a fire, please just take a minute to see if there are a load of sensible people tending to it before dialling 999.

A couple of other niggles too, a resident has been moaning that we are driving all the wildlife out by cutting back the path. Obviously we are not trying to do this at all. By cutting back and letting the sunlight in, we will encourage nectar-rich wild flowers to grow, which will attract insects, which will attract mammals and birds.

Just remember what the greenway was like before we started. Broken glass and loads of other rubbish dumped down there, stinging nettles and brambles making the muddy narrow path impassable without getting badly stung or your clothes snagged, and generally a feeling of enclosed and unsafe wilderness. We need the path to be wide so that all the users of the greenway are not forced to walk on the same muddy strip and make it even muddier. We are also trying to make it interesting so that children and dogs can get up and down the banks and run around the trees, rather than just march in a narrow straight line.

If any resident wants to talk to me about what we are doing on the greenway, please come along to a workday and I will gladly explain what our aims and objectives are. Please remember that the users include walkers, runners, mountain bikers, dog walkers and horse riders. If the path is not wide enough to accommodate all these different users, it will become a badly churned up quagmire.

I also wonder if we have made any negative impact with the noise from the Relief Road. The road opened in September 2010 and was not really an established route through the winter of 2010. Since then it has got a lot busier and the leaves on the trees are obviously not there in the winter to soften and block the noise. I also note that the wind tends to blow west to east, which is right onto the estate, more often than not.

Right then, about today! A tough one, but we made it to the end!! I didn’t think we were going to do it but we did, and at one point we were tantalisingly close and I saw a ray of sunshine on the end almost saying to me “COME ON!!”

I looked up and saw a ray of sunshine on the end bit - it was like a welcome beacon.

We chopped back a lot of scrub today and tomorrow we really need to clear up and burn it off. We were too far away from the fire to drag it all the way down to it. The greenway fought back today and my hands are ripped to bits from the bramble, plus I smacked my head with a spiky Hawthorn branch and also poked myself in the eye with another branch.

A 'before' shot looking south down the path - all the scrub came out.

However, it was worth the pain to get to the end. We now can either work our way back and tidy, after finishing tomorrow, or we can start on the area working towards the underpass and come back to this area later on to tidy it and cut scallops onto the remaining bramble.

The Ash coppice at the end.

Thanks to the six of us who made it today. I never quite know how Saturday workdays will pan out, but we did well. I will put some more dates on the calendar later today or tomorrow and try and mix them up a bit so that everyone has a chance to come along.

We are creating something that is quite special for Cawston!

Paul

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Come and Join In!!!!

Posted on January 15, 2012 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

So happy with the greenway. Had nearly 5,500 views on the blog since we started and seem to have quite a following.

Please, please, please, if you are watching our progress on the blog or facebook/twitter and would like to get involved, but maybe feel difficult about joining what seems to be an established group, we are nothing like that at all.

Come along and join us. We are so laid back and chilled. It really is just a bit of fun!!! 🙂

And it makes us all feel so good because we are doing a bit of conservation work in what was once a rubbish tip!!!

It would be really good to see some new people join us…..

Paul

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Another 65 meters done on Cawston Greenway

Posted on January 15, 2012 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

We pushed on and got another 65 meters down the path. It was a really hard slog with some horribly thick bramble and prickly Blackthorn trees, but we cracked on and made our target. The good news is that we now have just 140 meters to get to the end, and even better, just 60 meters of dense scrub before the path breaks out into the Ash coppice at the end, which just needs a quick tidy. Beyond the coppice is about 25 meters of open grassland that is fine for now.

Preview Changes

This is the Ash coppice at the end of the greenway.

Once we get to the end we need to work our way back and just rake the ground. This will tidy all the leaves and bits of twigs that we have left, and also disturb the seeds in the ground which will help them to germinate in the spring. We also need to cut some scallops into the edges to create sheltered spots for insects and butterflies to thrive. If these scallops are cut so that the south facing edge gets maximum sunshine we will have fantastic micro-habitats all along the path.

65 meters of new path (looking north). We need to cut scallops into the left hand edge.

Hopefully we will see a lot of nectar-rich flowers growing on the newly bare earth and this will attract insects, which will in turn attract birds and mammals.

Looking south where we started. This was narrow path before we cut it back.

Once we get this section done we can ease the scrub back on the path between the entrance and the underpass. We need to be really careful with this bit because it is close to houses, so no tree chopping, just lopping the branches on the edges of the path.

Good turn out today with eight of us making it. The next workday is Saturday 21st January and I guess it will be another tough one, but it will get a lot easier after this next 60 meters is done.

Thanks to everyone for today.

Until the next one!

Paul

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A Few Meters More……

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Nice start to the day today. I got there at about 9:45 and saw a couple of squirrels playing on the path. There were also loads of birds in full song and it felt good. The wider the path is, the more pleasant the greenway feels. Not quite so claustrophobic is probably quite a good way to describe it.

We pushed on with much reduced numbers today. John, Mike and myself to be fair and Mike was concentrating on tidying around the bird-box clearing, so effectively it was just John and me pushing on. However, we cleared another 30 or so meters.

Another tree released.

We had a bonfire but I think for the sake of quickness, we can just push scrub down the bank whilst we are on such high embankment. This will be used by all sorts of small mammals who will use it for shelter, and as it rots down it will become host to plenty of fungi.

Looking back at the point where we started.

Personally I think we need to try and copy the above as we move down the path. We are on high embankment until we get to the end and really we just need to remove the scrub on the top surface, and lop any branches encroaching from the edges, so that we have a V or U profile on the path with stand alone trees, as well as groups or clumps, like in the picture.

We are still on target for getting to the end by the end of the month. John suggested that when we get there, we work back and just tidy and rake. There are also a few areas where we have got under the blackthorn but left the top a bit heavy, so maybe this could be thinned, as we work back. As soon as we have done this, and worked our way back to the new underpass, then we can really get stuck into the run from there to The Bear. The ground is scrub free and in deep cutting for the whole run, so it will just be a case of creating clearings and working up and along the south-facing bank.

Someone has been working on the section between the entrance and the underpass. I don’t know who this is but they have  done a really good job of lopping the trees and widening the path. This will save us time in February so thank-you very much for your efforts!

Next workday (Sunday 15th Jan) I will bring the brush-cutter and really blast a good run. If everyone else works at raking the brash off, then I think we can probably get ahead of schedule.

Lastly, I have ordered some new rakes and a new pair of loppers. Doubtful if we will have these by next week, so it might be worth bringing a rake. I will bring one extra.

Until next time!

Paul

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