Cawston Greenway

General cutting back along the path. It is getting quite overgrown on the section towards Potsford’s Dam so maybe our efforts would be best placed there. Please bring your own pruners, we only have four pairs in our tool-box!!

Rugby Friends of the Earth group are getting quite interested in our greenway so maybe visit their website to see what they are up to at www.rugbyfoe.co.uk. They are planning an event on the 14th July incorporating the greenway, so please support it if you can.

Sustrans, the charity that makes all the cycle networks are well on their way to developing the section of the greenway from Potsford’s Dam to Draycote. From my understanding, they have a man with a JCB ready to clear the route, have plans to sort out the badly waterlogged sections, and I think I read correctly, funding for a bridge to span the Fosse Way at Offchurch to link up the Offchurch Greenway, which is a little bit further on from Draycote, but well worth a visit.

www.warwickshire.gov.uk/web/corporate/pages.nsf/Links/94BDEFED31F9DCAE80256B7D00502F00

And of course, there is the wonderful pub at Offchurch called The Stag www.thestagatoffchurch.com with their fantastic foods and beers. This will be an eventual nine mile jaunt from Cawston to Offchurch, along the greenway (National Cycle Network 41) and well worth a visit. There is a bus route back to Cawston too, which can be found on www.transportdirect.info.

I look forwards to seeing you on the 18th, usual meeting point and hopefully we will have good weather. And don’t forget the Rugby Friends of the Earth bash on the 14th.

I attended this on Tuesday and am really impressed with the enthusiasm and hard work that is going on with projects like ours, in Warwickshire.

There were presentations and then guest speakers from St Peter’s Church Wellesbourne Wildlife Project and The Yellow Land in Bishops Itchington, which we did a site visit to, in the afternoon of the day.

There were various displays from other local groups with a lot of ‘before and after’ pictures.

It really gave me a great deal of confidence and motivation for Cawston Greenway. Yes, there is a lot of work to do with scrub clearance, horrible work as we fight to reclaim the greenway. Cutting back trees and turning it from a dark corridor to a light and airy pathway full of interesting flora and fauna.

In my mind’s eye, I can picture a gradually snaking series of woodland rides breaking out into open glades with views across open countryside. Keeping the woodland feel is valuable for a few reasons. Firstly it creates a visual and noise buffer between the greenway and the new relief road and secondly, it makes the greenway quite unique and different from the rest of the route down to Draycote, where it is cut right back and is very open.

September is the month when it all starts to happen. I am so looking forward to cracking on with it!

Great workday on the greenway this afternoon and great to see some new faces mucking in with the regulars.

We really shifted some rubbish, as you can see….

Thanks everyone for all your hard work and I look forward to seeing you next month!

Howdy!

Next workday is Sunday 20th June 1pm to 3pm.

Really just a bit of litter picking and general maintenance for now. However, come September and the real work starts.

In my mind’s eye (with inspiration and pics from BTCV)….

We need to cut back the trees and scrub to make a three metre wide path. Ideally this needs to be curving from left to right in gentle arcs to stop any wind-tunnel effect that we might get if we have a straight run, and allows us to incorporate any wet or boggy areas which are so important for wildlife. It also makes it a more interesting walk and we can keep a dense sandwich of trees between the greenway and the new road.

The natural clearings or glades need to be cleared right back and planted with wild flower seed and encourage the existing berry producing shrubs to thrive on the edges. Hopefully the rabbit population will keep the grass in check, making any mowing unnecessary. It would be great to see deer on the greenway too. A couple have been spotted in the past, so they have come from somewhere.

The paths between these glades need to be cleared of scrub and be managed as woodland rides. Whilst the railway-line is not a wood, it would be such a shame to lose the feel that it is, and if all the trees are cut away, then the view becomes the whole run of the Western Relief Road!! 

Now that I have a bit of a plan in my head I really cannot wait to turn the greenway into a lovely nature walk. It really is going to be a fantastic achievement for all of us, and great for Cawston.

Great to see about 14 volunteers turned up and got stuck in. We cut back the path to ensure a nice clear way through for cyclists and walkers, without getting stung by the nettles or snagged by the brambles.

Many thanks to Michael for all his advice about the wild flowers that we were spotting.

This is one of the clearer sections that we will plant with wild flower seeds.

Some of the gang making their way back!

View to the west from one of the clear areas.

Meet at 11 o’clock and spend a couple of hours cutting back the brambles encroaching on the path – join in, do some conservation work, feel good!!!!!

Great News!

We have tools… BTCV (thank you very much) have given us a tools grant. We have bow saws, loppers, rakes and pruners. They are all shiny and brand new and I for one am champing at the bit to get down onto the greenway and really start to rip the scrub out and chop the canopy back. They have also sent us 100gms of wild flower seed (2gms seeds a square metre from memory) which Acton Earth paid for and we have a donation from the co-op and also a donation from a very kind resident that will be very well spent on more tools and seed. HSBC have also agreed to help with tool costs so we should have a really good selection for when the real work begins after August.

Looking forward to seeing as many people as possible on Sunday 23rd May to give the path a pruning.

Paul 🙂

It’s time to bang the drum again for Cawston Greenway…

Whilst we cannot do any major cutting back due to nesting birds, our lovely litter-free greenway is in need of a little bit of a trim. There are brambles starting to encroach onto the path which is making it quite unpleasant to cycle or walk along.

So I propose a couple of hours on Sunday 23rd May 11am to 1pm, bring your own secateurs and maybe gardening gloves.  Meet at the usual place (see www.cawstongreenway.org for link) and lets see what we can do!

Look forward to seeing you then.

Paul

Had a really exciting meeting with Sustrans, the land owners. There is a lot of work going on to get the bit of the line from Potsford’s Dam to Draycote opened up and the drainage sorted out, and I suggested a ramp to allow access to Cawston Reservoir and Bluebell Woods. This is an amazing walk and I recommend it (click on the walks tabs). They are really pleased with what we have done so far and the next step for us is to get a licence agreement that clearly states what we can and cannot do. Basically what they are looking for is a three metre wide path along the greenway. They are also looking at the bit past the Bear pub, and linking this up to the path that runs over the Leicester Road on the viaduct and onwards to Newbold nature reserve. Google Sustrans and Connect2 for details if you want more info.

It’s all good news!

Me and a friend spent an hour on the greenway looking for butterflies. It was fantastic with a lot of insect wildlife flying or scurrying around. It really looks so much better with the litter cleared.

We spotted a Small Tortoiseshell and we think, a Holly Blue but couldn’t quite catch it resting for long enough to be 100% (Sue, if you are reading, it was probably the same sort that you saw).  A really great time and so nice to see how a little bit of warmth really brings the greenway to life. It will be fantastic when we cut back the canopy and get the wildflower seed down.