Town Trail - Friendly Robin joins the work

We had another session on the Town Trail a couple of weeks ago. You'll see from the photos, that we were joined by a robin again. We sometimes think the birds are watching out for us so that they can forage in the earth we've disturbed.

 

We've had a couple of comments expressing concern about the nesting season. We stopped working in the area between Woodleigh Road and Bridge Street for this reason. 

 

In the area down from the station, we are mainly clearing excess ivy off the ground. There are no ground nesting birds in the area where we are working - which is mainly a strip either side of the path. This is a good area to encourage woodland edge plants which would increase the biodiversity. We will not be clearing the whole area as it is important to leave some ivy and a diversity of habitats. Whilst we are doing this, we also clear a lot of litter.

As you may know, the Trail is owned by Herefordshire Council. We operate under a Licence to Cultivate granted to the Town Council. The work we do is part of a maintenance plan agreed with both councils. We also take advice from ecologists and environmentalists. We have carried out one review with Herefordshire Council/Balfour Beatty since we started work in October last year and plan to do another one during the autumn/winter.

 Our next session is on Monday 27th June and as always, you can contact us on sustainableledbury@gmail.com

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Sustainable Ledbury Midsummer update

Summer is on its way and we’re thinking about the Poetry Festival. Together with our friends at Pot & Page Café we’ve organised a children’s poetry competition. Details have been out for a while now but you can still contact us for an application form via email on sustainableledbury@gmail.com or via our website, sutainableledbury.co.uk The closing date is 10^th June and winners will be notified by 24^th June. Prize giving will be part of a children’s event at Pot & Page on the afternoon of Saturday 2^nd July. The theme of the competition is ‘Looking after Our World’.

We’ve been looking after our world too. We’re making progress on the Town Trail. Before the nesting season started, we managed to clear ivy and brambles from the section of the Trail between Bye Street and Woodleigh Road. We’re leaving this section now until after the nesting season. There’s still plenty to do. With help from Balfour Beatty, we’ve cut back some of the ivy on the trees on the section of the Trail that runs down the side of the Recreation Ground, letting in more light. We’re now making a start at clearing some of the ivy along the station end of the Trail. It’s been good to get all the positive feedback on Facebook and to have new volunteers join us.

If you read this before Community Day, come and find us there and we can tell you more about what we’re doing and talk about our Waste Reduction project.

Town Trail - Bridge, what Bridge?

We had another session on the Town Trail last week, working on the bridge. You didn't know there was a bridge? We're not surprised. It was covered in ivy. It looks a bit different now.

When we'd finished we surveyed a small area and identified 11 wildflowers. We hope there'll be more as we let the light in.

Our next session is on Monday morning, 13th June. For more information contact us on sustainableledbury@gmail.com