Cawston Greenway

Good first proper workday today and it was a good one with lovely weather and we really got on with the task in hand.

The learning points from last season to this one are becoming apparent. The ground that we have cleared has become totally full of flowers and plants, while the banks are still covered in scrub and trees. We need to really bite the bullet and clear out the bottom of the cuttings and also clear the banks. There is no point in letting the new growth encroach onto the old and muddy path. We are just tramping through the same old mud and puddles.

The good news is that there is a ridge of ballast that must be a result of when the railway tracks were taken up. If we clear this, along with the rest of the scrub, we will have a natural path that is higher than the water-logged bits. It’s good that we have the wet bits because this increases the diversity, but we don’t want to be continually walking through these bits. I saw a lot of dragonflies today, along with all the usual butterflies, so the wet bits are useful.

As a pointer, this is a picture of Stockton Cutting. They had the same issues as us before they cut nearly all the trees down on the banks. I wish I had a picture of when it was first done, but trust me, it was bare earth. Now look..

Stockton Cutting

The reserve is literally buzzing with insects and wildlife, and the plant life is really varied.

I believe that our task this year is to totally clear out every bit of the greenway that is in cutting and brush-cut anything that grows on the ballast path over the summer of 2013. We can then work out what we want to do with the path that is on embankment next year.

To aid us in this task I am going to buy a chainsaw and just clear everything. Simple as!!

Anyhow, on to today. Reasonable turnout considering the workday was short notice. We started to clear between the two areas that have previously been ripped out.

Clearing the scrub.

You can see how tight the path is. We had to have the bonfire in the middle of the path!! Not good.

The area that we cleared.

As you can imagine, we need to push on forwards, but also up to the top of the bank! This little bit took 12 man-hours to clear – we really need that chain saw…

I made a log pile with a variety of new and old logs. This will be a wonderful home for a lot of wildlife.

I will put new workday dates on the blog very soon. As a final picture, we have paul taking a very well deserved break on the picnic bench. Great to see it being used and that we don’t have a litter problem around it.

Picnic clearing.

Thanks everyone who made it today. Good work!!

Paul

It is with great sorrow that report that Edmund lost his battle with cancer this morning. Edmund was a popular volunteer on the greenway and touched a lot of us with his kind nature. I have sent my condolences to Sally, his wife.

In terms of today’s workday, it was all about trying to connect with the cycleway that runs along the Western Relief Road. This is part of National Cycle Network 41 and as soon as we connect with it we can then connect with the rest of the route at Draycote village.

After trying to work out how to put steps into the very steep slope by the bridge, we eventually gave up because it would be more of a ladder that steps. We then tried to make a ramp but with no retaining barrier it was just not possible with spades.

Eventually we went to the area where the field next to the greenway narrows, and cut a small tunnel through to the edge.

Small tunnel leading to the edge of the greenway.

From the edge is a small bit of land that hopefully the landowner will give us access over and then our connection with the outside world will be made.

View from the edge to the gate. Just twenty yards.

The rest of the workday was spent pulling up nettles around any other wild flowers to give them a chance to establish themselves and spread a bit.

The cows found our nettle pulling quite amusing!

And just as we were finishing we found a Kidney Vetch plant. This is the sole food-plant for the Small Blue butterfly. If we can get this plant to spread we can hopefully have a Small Blue colony establish itself. This would be fantastic because the Small Blue is on the endangered species list in Warwickshire and needs as much habitat creation as possible.

Kidney Vetch.

Good day today up to the point where I learnt about Ed. I will put some more workdays on in the next couple of days, but in the meantime, I hope everyone has a great Jubilee celebration.

Paul