Cawston Greenway

The Oak tree before we cleared the bank around it.

We had a problem with getting the fire started due to the matches being damp. We pushed a load of the brash up to the top of the bank to create a sort of shabby dead-hedge screen and left the rest in loose piles ready for throwing on the fire and burning on Sunday. I will get some new matches and kindling ready for Sunday and I will take care of finishing off what we started today.

The difference when we had finished cutting the trees down was fantastic. Loads of light coming in and hitting the ground. 

Working in a cutting got me thinking about the woodland feel that we are trying to keep to block out the view of the Western Relief Road, I think we can clear the banks a lot more aggressively and maybe try to hedge the top of the cuttings. People will never see the road unless they climb to the top of the cutting, and then they will see it anyway because the top of the cutting is pretty much the edge of the greenway. Maybe something worth thinking about for next season.

Looking forward to Sunday!

Paul

The hippy hippy shake.

After two hours of brush-cutting I have got the hippy hippy shake… lol. I hope you enjoy this blast from the past 🙂

A really good day today with quite a few exciting developments. Ed cleared the logs in the picnic clearing and had a bonfire to burn off a lot of the unwanted timber.

Picnic clearing where people can come and sit at the benches when they are put in and have a bite to eat.

We also made a clearing that we identified last week as an area that was so thick with dead wood, and low value dense trees that nothing had a chance to grow under it.

Our new glade.

We had a third bonfire further down the path to burn off a load of dead wood and the brash from the brush-cutting. Still quite a way to go with the path widening, but I did feel like we had the end in sight.

I hope to get the bench frames on site week after next with the help of Gary. We can then get some planks that will make the table-tops and seats.

Paul put up some more bird nesting boxes and next week we can put up the insect houses and bat boxes.

We have the reedbed at the Potford’s Dam end and we need to eventually clear the embankment down to it and see how we can encourage it to flourish. Mike and me had a good old poke around in the reedbed that Rugby Council want us to help with. We startled a Snipe which is a marsh bird, which was nice to see, and also saw a whole range of flora in the boggy ground and stream. The first thing that we need to do is a litter-pick.

Our reedbed.

The grassland between the reedbed and the greenway is what we and Scott from Rugby Borough Council want to develop into a wildflower meadow. We will have a workday where we will be planting wildflower plugs soon. This is going to be fantastic for butterflies and insects, and will take off a bit of the pressure to clear all the trees from the greenway.

Grassland that we want to turn into a wildflower meadow.

That’s about it. Thanks to all that turned out, which was about twelve or so. we got loads done and really made a difference. The more sunlight that we can get on the ground, the more chance we will have of wildflowers growing, which will attract more and more insects, which in turn will bring birds and other wildlife. Remembering though, that it is not just about the wildlife, it is also about creating a fantastic greenway for walkers and cyclists to visit and get down to Draycote Water Park. 

Next workdays:

Wednesday 16th Feb 11am to 1pm. Burn off the rest of the logs in the picnic area and remove the tree-stumps!!!

Sunday 20th Feb 11am to 1pm. Push on down with the path widening and try to identify more areas that can be made into glades.

See you then!

Paul

Really good workday today with about twelve of us turning out.

We pushed on with the path widening and got quite far down towards Potford’s Dam. Still a way to go, but excellent progress that will pay huge dividends in the summer. As the newly cut part of the path becomes trodden down it will start to get established.

Widened path will stop walkers and cyclists getting snagged by brambles in the summer.

Good news for those of us who like to chop down trees. I had a root about where we had the bonfire today and most of the trees are dead and so dense and tangled that nothing is growing in there. So next workday will be opening up this area into a large clearing for those who want to get stuck in. The rest of us can carry on with the path widening.

The next glade - we will clear this area back and get the sun light on the ground to see what grows in the spring.

We found a marker that is probably something to do with the line when it was a railway. Does anybody know what it means? 

We now have the bench frames, who we have Rugby Borough Council to thank for (bear this in mind). We need to get them on site firstly, and secondly get some planks for the table-tops and benches. I think the standard length is about six foot and the planks need to be about 2 inches by 6 inches. How we fix them is anyone’s guess but I am sure we will find a way.

Picnic bench legs donated by Rugby Borough Council.

I will get some brackets to make fixing the bird boxes to trees a lot easier. And an electric screwdriver will help next workday.

In terms of saying thank-you to Rugby Borough Council – They have a project on the go that is trying to turn the area between the reedbed that the estate path goes past, up to where the greenway is, into a wildflower meadow. They have seeded the grass with Yellow Rattle and put a lot of wildflower plugs in. They would like us to get involved and help. It fits in so well with what we are doing with the greenway. I will blog details when I get them.

Next workday is next Sunday 11am to 1pm. I will organise some weekdays soon but a bit busy this week.

Great work today!

Paul

Tough workday for some of us who spent quite a bit of time dealing with a huge pile of left over brash.

A couple of points to remember. If we are cutting down trees we need to deal with the brash there and then, and also cut the stumps at ground level so they are not a trip hazard.

With the bird nesting boxes, they need to be far apart from each other, high up, straight, in a sheltered position and not in direct sunlight. They also need to be away from branches that a predator could perch on, such as a magpie or squirrel.

On a good note, we pushed down the line with the path widening. Adam was a whizz with the brush-cutter and did a fantastic job, with a good support crew behind him clearing the brash onto a bonfire. It will be great when the widened path gets a bit trodden-down and established. Still a long way to go and I can vouch that it really is hard work. I did two stints in the week and really didn’t fancy it at all today.

We also raked back a load of leaf-litter so any seeds that have been stuck in the soil will have a chance to germinate.

Moving forwards, we have two months of scrub clearance left. I propose that we leave any further tree felling until the end of the bird-nesting season (September) so we can see which ones are causing too much shade on the clearings, and concentrate on widening the path down to Potford’s Dam.

As I walked back today I thought about what we started with, which was basically a rubbish dump. Even now whilst the greenway is dormant, wet and muddy, the difference that we have made so far this year is fantastic.

Next workday will be next Sunday (6th Feb), 11am to 1pm. Pushing down the path from where we left off today. I will sort the stumps out in the picnic glade with Mike at some point soon. We will have the frames for the picnic benches delivered any day now so hopefully these will be ready for spring. I will bring a load more nesting boxes so Paul can have another crack at these.

Keep the faith, today was tough, but we are doing a superb job!

Paul

Great workday today, we extended the natural clearing by the gates, opposite where the new houses are being built. Got a really good stretch done and raked the ground back to bare soil. This will pay dividends later on this year because last year this spot had quite a few nice butterflies.

New glade!

We upset the builders on the nearby building site, due to the wind blowing smoke across towards them, and I guess when we put a load of damp moss on the fire it really did smoke for a few minutes.

Our little fire..

All in all a good day. Next workday is this Sunday, however, today I got some petrol for the brush-cutter so I will try and get the path clear over the next couple of weeks.

On Sunday we have two pressing jobs. The bird nesting-boxes, bat boxes and insect houses need to be put up, and the newly found reedbed needs work. I will bring ladders on Sunday for the bird boxes, and hopefully I will be confident enough with the brush-cutter to tackle the bank down to the reedbed.

See you on Sunday! 

Paul

Odd sort of work day today. I seemed to get caught up in chopping back a load of scrub that probably didn’t need to be touched, and after about an hour Mike pointed out badger trails, so we stopped work altogether. John and Graham had a more productive session by removing a large tree between a couple of oaks that we want to keep.

However, it all changed when we decided to investigate what we though was a reed bed. We got down to it and indeed, there were reeds growing in a boggy stretch that was being fed by a fast flowing stream.

Reed bed.

This is really exciting because it means we have a whole new habitat to manage and a lot of different wild birds that we can attract. The bank that leads down to this reed bed is south-easterly facing so it really is a superb aspect in so many ways.

Thanks to all that made it today.

Paul

Yes, we had some unexpected visitors in the form of a big red fire engine full of a load of beefy firemen. Unfortunately they didn’t come to help chop the path back. Someone had seen the smoke from our bonfire and called 999. This is the first time that this has happened and we have had bonfires every week. Luckily they were fine about it and went off to talk to the person who reported it.

Other than that, a mixed bag of a day with ten or so of us turning out, which I thought was really good considering the weather forecast. Rather than go all the way down  to Potford’s Dam and risk getting soaked if the heavens did open, we worked on clearing the path from the picnic clearing down towards Potford’s Dam.

The path before we widened it...

...and after widening.

This was really hard going using loppers and rakes. I will get some petrol for our brush cutter and finish this off with that. We also scraped away a lot of leaf litter to help any wild flower seeds get some warmth and start to germinate in the spring.

A bit of advice from Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, who came down on Wednesday to look at what we are doing. The glades need to be bigger, really a lot bigger, and the ground needs to be clear of all the twigs, leaves and vegetation, if anything is going to have a chance to grow. Trees on the south sides of glades need to be cut back and the path needs to be clear, then shrubs at the sides with trees on the edges, so it kind of  gradually gets taller towards the edges of the path.

Thanks to all who braved it today. Next workday tomorrow 10 am to 12. The following Sunday is not a workday unless anyone wants to organise one.

Thanks again,

Paul

A mini workday where we got an epic amount of work done!

We are still working on the coppice at Potford’s Dam. I keep scheduling what we will be doing and we keep falling way behind. This is my fault and happens for two reasons. Firstly, it’s easy to sit at home and think, “do this that and the other” in a kind of bish-bash-bosh way. And secondly, I am very impatient and want it all done now, plus I feel like we are against a tight deadline  that is when the bird nesting season starts at the end of March.

As time and experience kick in, I should get better at the first point. The second however, is just part of who I am.

We cleared the area on the west embankment around two majestic Oak trees. Pushed a lot of the brash down to the bottom of the slope and raked off the leaf litter.

I had a good poke around the brook and found where it goes under the greenway and runs on the east side of the embankment. It looks like there might be a small reedbed on the boggy ground at the bottom of the east side. I will get down to it for a closer look later this week.

Next workday is this Sunday, as per the blog a few days ago. Still at Potford’s Dam I’m afraid to say, however, if we want to split into two groups and one group pushes down from the picnic clearing towards Potford’s Dam, making sheltered clearings under large trees and opening up the natural glades, and the rest push on up until we meet somewhere in the middle, I am happy to do this.

My protective facemask and ear protectors arrived today so I can start to brush-cut the paths between the clearings.

Thanks to all that turned out today. Good work!

Paul

Maybe suggesting that we start at the end of the greenway was not such a wise idea. It seemed like a long walk to get there!!

However, the walk helps us to see what needs doing, and we also found the Lawford Brook , which is a fast running stream that is reasonably wide and deep. This brook starts in Long Lawford where it connects to the river Avon and goes under the greenway just before Potford’s Dam and connects to Cawston Reservoir. It would be great to clear all the dead and poor quality trees down the west-facing side of the embankment so that walkers can have a full view of the brook, and also maybe get some sort of bench so that the view can be properly enjoyed. This really is an exciting find because it opens up the greenway to yet another type of wildlife habitat.

Anyhow, back to today. Fantastic turnout with 14 or so of us. Good to see some youngsters mucking in too.

One of our younger helpers!

We took out a lot of the poor quality trees to make room for the established ones to really grow. We also raked the leaf litter into piles so the bare earth can hopefully yield us some wild woodland plants and flowers.

Cutting branches overhanging the path.

We are trying to get as much sunlight into this part of the path as possible, without losing  all of the canopy, so it will be through the sides as well as from above. There is very little scrub so the opportunity for small shrubs, flowering herbs and grasses to grow is ripe. We are lucky that the coppice is made up of Ash trees, which don’t have a dense canopy due to having small leaves.  We made numerous log piles and burnt off all the brash on a bonfire.

Managing the coppice.

The next workday is tomorrow, Monday, 10:30 to 12:30. Back at the Potford’s Dam end I’m afraid. We need to do a lot of work on the west-facing embankment to release a huge Oak tree of all the interfering trees that are shooting up around it, clear all the dead wood down the slope and open up the brook. This bank is covered in leaf litter so the soil will be high in nutrients. This might lead to a load of nettles growing on it once the sunlight starts to hit the ground, but if we manage it we should be OK. And remember, nettles are a fantastic food source for 40 different species of insect to survive, including several species of butterfly which include the Small Tortoiseshell, the Comma, the Red Admiral and the Peacock.  I am trying to think about food-chains and what will be the positive benefits to existing and new wildlife, from the work that we do today.

Great turn out today, our first workday of 2011 so thanks to everybody. Let’s really crack on and make the greenway something special!

Paul

Oh, and a Happy New Year!

I rode the length of the greenway today to try and plan the next few workdays. To say it was eye-opening would be something of an understatement. I will start at the Potford’s Dam end and run up the greenway and suggest what came to me. If you feel that there is something else that we should be doing, or something that we should not, let me know and we can look at the reasons and make the changes if we need to.

At Potford’s Dam there is a sheltered grassy area on the bridge and for a bit before the path becomes wooded. I think it would be good to cut back the scrub on the outer edges of this area and encourage the grass to grow. This will create a grassy habitat for a wide range of small mammals like mice, shrews and voles. This will then encourage a kestrel or two to visit. If however, the rabbits keep the grass grazed, then maybe we can look at planting Kidney Vetch and trying to establish a colony of Small Blue butterfly. Mike Slater can help us with the finer details.

Moving along the wooded path, the scrub is quite thin and it creates a really nice open wood feel.

It will be nice to maintain this scrub-free feel. There are a few fallen trees that are tangled up in the trunks of others. It needs thinning out and the better ash trees given room to grow. We can encourage woodland plants and flowers to grow on the ground.

Moving on, we get into the areas along the greenway where the scrub is quite thick. It’s important that we maintain this habitat because it has developed over the last 30 odd years. However, there are a few things that we can do to bring back the balance.

There are some fantastic oak trees that are begging to be released from the smaller trees that have shot up and entangled themselves around their lower branches. This then gives us an opportunity to cut away the scrub from under the oaks and create sheltered clearings. The path can be cut back with our new brush-cutter to allow walkers and cyclists free passage.

Moving on and we get to the picnic clearing. I will chase up the picnic benches and hopefully we can get this set up for the early summer, by the latest. We have done quite a lot of work in widening the path, and just need to finish a few bits off.

Moving along the path to the meeting point and the path is quite wide and scrub free due to it being on embankment. This area just needs to be maintained until we are back in cutting and heading towards the new underpass. This area needs the scrub cut back in shallow scallops. There were plenty of grey squirrels rushing about and lots of birds hunting in the undergrowth.

Going through the underpass and the feel of the greenway changes dramatically. It goes into deep cutting and there is a lot of tree cover, however there is little scrub.

 It would be a shame to lose this so my feeling is to break out into small glades every now and again, but keep the dense cover above the path between these glades. There is quite a bit of standing water and I wonder if we should direct the path around these and let them flourish. There are also some fallen trees that need to be cut into log piles.

Some pretty deep water is coming from somewhere and will attract loads of insects, birds and wildlife.

Moving past the area where we did our first proper workday by The Bear, you can see how we have become so much better. The chopping back is sloppy and the piles of brash unsightly. It’s great to see the marked improvement in our more recent workdays. As I travelled towards the bridge at The Bear I found a slow-running stream. This runs right in the middle of the path for about 30 or 40 metres. I spotted a Grey Wagtail hunting for food at this point. The challenge here is to get the path onto higher ground and allow this stream to flourish. It will attract a fantastic amount of differing wildlife to the more drier parts of the greenway.

Moving under the bridge at The Bear and along the path, it remains in deep cutting and is quite wet, but also scrub free. A couple of small clearings will help to bring some diversity to this habitat.

Lastly the path comes out of the cutting and there is a short area of scrub that needs to be cut back before we open out onto the Western Relief Road cycle path (Sustrans Cycle Route 41)

The spur where Sustrans Cycle Route 41 carries on along the Western Relief Road, or diverts into Cawston Greenway.

 So, quite a bit to do between now and March. But also some very diverse micro-habitats that we can encourage and sustain. What a fantastic place this is going to be. Like I said, eye-opening really understates what we have.

I have four video clips on our facebook page to try and show what I saw. Feel free to take a look, and join the page. 

January Workdays:

Gather at usual meeting point at the start time, or make your way up or down the path until you find us if you are later.

Sunday 9th: 1:00 to 3:00. Working on the entrance to the greenway at Potford’s Dam. Clearing the fallen trees and thinning out. Create a log pile or two and clear the ground. Clear scrub to outer edges of grassy section.

Monday 10th: 10:30 to 12:30. Working on the area between Potford’s Dam and the picnic clearing. Clear scrub from under established oak trees. Push back and widen the path where needed.

Sunday 16th: 11:00 to 1:00. As above.

Monday 17th: 10:00 to 12:00. Cut back the scrub between the meeting point and the underpass. There is a natural grassy glade that maybe we can lengthen. I spotted a Holly Blue butterfly here last summer so it makes sense to improve this area. There is also a superb view across the fields to the west.

Monday 24th: 10:30 to 12:30. As above.

Sunday 30th: 1:00 to 3:00. Revisit the path between the underpass and The Bear to establish a plan and create a small glade or two. Work out how to get around the wet areas and stream.

Plenty to do and quite a busy schedule. Hopefully we can keep on track and really crack on.

Hope to see you on the workdays burning off some of our Christmas excesses.

Paul