On Friday [10th February], a great team from Vets4Pets was out on the Railway Path working on a bank forming one side of a cutting in between Chiseldon and Ogbourne St George. The bank has been unaffected by fertiliser over the years, and has some nice grassland flowers growing in it, but is being encroached by surrounding scrub. So we like to get out there once a year to remove the woody and pithy plants which hopefully will allow the flowers to flourish. In turn, this will help support the animals that enjoy that habitat, in particular the insects (and their caterpillars) that feed on the plants. We’ve seen 17 different types of butterflies and moths here: so if you’re on the Path on a fine day in summer, pause and see what you can find.
We also removed a couple of trees overhanging the path a little to the north, which will make it easier to navigate for both cyclists and horse riders. My thanks to the team (who claimed they enjoyed the day enough to think about doing it again!)
