Canal project

please see here for Ruth’s other photos for this project on her Flickr Page: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjANLkb

Spring 2024: Boosting the borderlines by Ruth Powell

The Canal Project team spent January and February replacing the stock fencing around the outside of the grassland and scrapes at Whitminster, aiming to complete all the work before nesting season. 

This involved cutting back scrub and removing the old stock fencing and installing new. In some cases, the team had to simultaneously keep the area stock-proof and make the improvements, with around 80m of hedge-line to work on. 

Work continued in some atrocious weather conditions and deep mud! Newer volunteers learned some new skills, such as removing old staples with hammer and fencing pliers, and ramming in posts, plus using power tools to modify Blue Tit boxes to suit other species of birds. 

Some of us have learned how to tension a fence using widgets called ‘gripples’. Two students and support staff from the National Star College joined us for a couple of sessions and have also been learning new skills and enjoying working in the outdoors.

We have installed four Swift nest boxes in the bell tower at Eastington Church, with great support from the parochial parish council, along with various songbird nest boxes around the Whitminster area. During March, the group planted a new hedge along the edge of the field below Highfield Garden Centre, providing connectivity with the existing and new hedges in the Fromebridge Mill area.

 Autumn 2023: Canalside homes for nature by Ruth Powell

Our Himalayan Balsam pulling season extended into September with the brief Indian summer weather pushing the end-of-season plants to flower and seed.

The canal project environment volunteer group cleared a greater area of balsam this year than last, on both the canal and the River Frome, and observed that areas we pulled last year had reduced growth this year. In between this task, the group has continued to maintain and nurture the new hedges that were planted this February and March, weeding around the trees and mulching with woodchip.

The trees have been an amazing success so far with a survival rate of over 95%, with most growing significantly and a few even flowering.

The bug boxes created by volunteers and children in the spring have been installed on trees along the canal between Newtown and Eastington.

Some of the volunteers were on site with Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust for the digging of the new scrapes at Whitminster, an exciting development on the canal project which will become a wetland nature reserve in the future.

The recent wet weather is already helping to fill the scrapes with water and everyone eagerly awaits the arrival of wetland birds to the area.

Summer 2023 – You can read here about the sessions we have had when local blogger Chris Shaw joins us: Chris Shaw with Stroud Valleys Project

Back on the bash

Volunteer work parties have returned to the summer task of pulling up Himalayan Balsam along the river Frome and canal.  We have returned to Ebley Meadows where we pulled a lot of balsam last year and it’s been pleasing to note what looks like a reduction in the amount of HB this year, although we did find a large stand that we missed last year.  As is traditional, the weather has been hot and dry and often humid for this task, and the nettles and brambles numerous, so avoiding stings and scratches has been a ‘challenge’ despite our long trousers and sleeves.

We have encountered several Giant Hogweed plants in the Meadows and these will be treated by colleagues at Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust as GH can cause very serious burns when the tiny hairs on their stalks and leaves touch your skin.

Much nicer were the red admiral caterpillars found on some nettles and the beautiful electric blue damselflies flitting around on the river (too quick for a photo!)

We have more balsam ‘bashing’ to do along the Frome at Fromebridge Mill near Whitminster and along the canal at Queen Elizabeth II park in Dudbridge.  One of the more positive aspects of this work is the recorded presence in some locations of water voles. As the balsam can take over from our native riparian plants, pulling all of them up would leave no shelter or food source for the voles, so in these areas, where there are large stands (over 1m2 ) we cut the balsam at about half its height instead of completely removing it.  This should leave habitat for the voles and prevent the plants from flowering and spreading seeds.

Hedge maintenance

We have continued to look after the new hedges that we planted over the winter, by weeding and mulching around them and watering during a long dry spell.  It’s important that all that planting doesn’t go to waste and that we ensure our trees have the best start in life.

Pulling water from the canal in buckets is not as easy as it sounds!  There were steep banks to contend with and a limited number of access points, but some large containers, a wheelbarrow and numerous treks back and forth with buckets of water did the trick.

Where Butterbur had grown by our hedge near Newtown lock it had completely hidden the trees, but the leaves provide a good mulch when cut down.

Bug boxes

Volunteers created 15 bug box kits from pallet wood which were then assembled by children at the Canal Spring Festival and at a meeting of Stroud’s Bug Club.  All the completed boxes, which have been filled with a mixture of bamboo canes, sticks, small logs, pine cones, moss and cardboard, are being installed along the canal corridor as part of the CCC project aim to increase bio diversity in the area.

Spring 2023: Tales from the canal bank by Ruth Powell

It’s been hedge planting season on the canal project, and our volunteers have joined forces with teams from both Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust and CPRE (now known as the Countryside Charity) to plant new mixed native hedging along the canal at Newtown and also along the lane from the A38 roundabout to the Fromebridge Mill pub, Whitminster.

These hedges make up about 1km of the 4km of hedging that is planned for the duration of the canal project which is aimed at improving connectivity for wildlife across the landscape within the canal corridor.

We had 25 volunteers for one session and it was amazing to see the hedge progressing at speed up the lane!

We also repaired a stock fence to prevent the cows eating our newly planted hedge and had a great day cutting back willow from the reed bed at the Ocean in Stonehouse

You can read here about the sessions we have had when local blogger Chris Shaw joins us: Chris Shaw with Stroud Valleys Project

Beating back the invaders on the canal by Ruth Powell

The hot summer was spent pulling up large amounts of the non-native invasive species Himalayan Balsam along the banks of the River Frome and Stroudwater Canal in Cainscross and Ebley with a new group of volunteers. Some fantastic advertising led to new volunteers getting in touch to join the newly formed group along with some existing volunteers and we now have a mailing list of 28 people who are interested in future volunteering activities on the environment side of the canal project.

Two work parties created a joint effort along with teams from Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, and this year’s surveying and removal will give us a head start next year to clear more balsam in this area and further downstream. 

Planning is now underway for a winter season of hedge planting around the canal and river between Stonehouse and Saul, as part of the project’s commitment to planting four kilometres of hedgerow to create corridors for wildlife across the landscape.

Funders for this project