Cawston Greenway

Sunday 15th… meet in the Bear carpark and hit the section from there to the WRR cycle path spur. There is loads of litter around the bridge that is by the Bear, and it is passable along the greenway, but quite overgrown, so I suggest we break into two groups. One group getting the litter out and the other group cutting back the path to make a clear run down to what will actually be the start of Cawston Greenway!!

I have sent the cheque off today to get the insurance upgraded so we can use power tools, I have also got a load of hand tools from BTCV which include bow saws, cutters and rakes. Having never done anything like this before, I hope we are on the right track. If anyone feels or knows that we should be doing something differently, just give me your input. I will listen to all ideas and suggestions warmly.

Lastly, we will be having a much needed committee meeting in early September. By then we will have our Management Plan and we can coordinate our work efforts throughout the winter. For me, it’s all about creating a superb habitat for wildlife such as badgers, foxes and butterflies, but just as importantly, creating a place for people to walk or cycle and kind of just get away from it all. This is why I want picnic benches in some of the clearings and benches in others.  If anyone else wants to add their ideas or wants, this is the time to do it…..

cawston greenway

We are upgrading our insurance to allow us to use power tools. This means we can cut through the scrub with a brush cutter, which is like an industrial strimmer.

This is going to make our job so much easier. I have been trawling ebay for one, and Michael already has one.

Boys and their toys… hehehe 😀

Cawston Greenway

Right then – time for a radical change in plan!

I walked the greenway past The Bear pub and Carrillion who built the Western Relief Road and the cycle path that runs along side it, have created a spur that joins the greenway about half a mile down from The Bear, with the cycle path (which is now part of National Cycle Network Route 41).

I suggest that we extend our efforts to where this spur connects to the WRR cycle path. It’s a lot more work and it really is overgrown, but it creates a complete corridor and alternative route from A to B, with B being Potsford’s Dam where Sustrans will pick up the task of managing the greenway down to Draycote.

The wildlife that I am seeing already is fantastic. Butterflies, foxes and badgers to name but a few. Wild berries are starting to ripen and it feels like a really good place to be. I am hoping to get some picnic benches put into the clearings and cut back the rides between the clearings. There are a lot of wild raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and sloe berries, which are the fruit of the blackthorn plant. There are also cherry trees, so what we have is a solid foundation to build from.

So the August workday is all about clearing the litter from the new underpass, to The Bear and down to the spur. Pretty horrible but it needs to be done.

I hope that we can get a good number of us on this. It will be well worth the extra effort.

Cawston Greenway

Fantastic workday, a lot of cutting back to keep the path clear and saw some wonderful butterflies such as Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Large White, Comma, Red Admiral, Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell. Made some good plans for the open areas. We are going to make a feature of the Victorian bridge by clearing the area and having a couple of picnic benches either side of it. A really enjoyable day.

We now have a facebook page as well as the website and blog . You can find it at

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cawston-Greenway/144446008903732

Or just press the button on the website  As you can see, there are also buttons at the top of this blog to take you to the facebook page and the website. This is for people who stumble across the blog. I will try to remember to put them at the start of each blog from now on.

We also have an article going in the Parish Council magazine in September so that should generate a bit of interest.

Thanks everyone for the help today, nice to see a few new faces too. Next light workday will be in August and then the hard work really begins with the clearing back of the scrub. I personally cannot wait!!

See you all soon,

Paul

This is a photo of the Offchurch Greenway. Hopefully we can achieve something similar, but with a much denser strips of trees on either side, especially between the greenway and the Relief Road.

This is a photo of the Cawston Greenway, obviously there is a lot of work to do.

The efforts will be very well rewarded though. Offchurch Greenway is well used and has a massive amount of wildlife. It’s a really great place to be.

I would like to have a picnic bench at the clearing by the gate that looks out over the fields, and maybe clear the area by the bridge and have one there too, eventually putting a ramp to make easy access to the Cawston Bridleway, of which the bridge is part of. 

Lots to do!!!

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.