GWSR Lineside

4 of us today, including Charles who completed his 6 and final probationary session. Charles is a very welcome addition to the team.   We carried out various tasks northwards from Pecked Lane. These included the remaining clearance of the fence around the public foot crossing, receiving positive comments from passing pedestrians, chipping the arisings from previous clearance and removal of some small trees. This completed the clearance of the Malvern side between Pecked Lane and Station Road. After lunch we continued northward from Station Road, with further clearance and chipping of the arisings.   On our homeward journey we stopped at the foot crossing South of Manor Lane (next to the recently repaired slip). This had already been partly cleared but we finished the task.   David M

T here was a team of 6  and we met up at Dixton Yard to travel north. Lawrence cut back  a willow that was on the edge of the  yard that was close to the drainage ditch on the Cotswold side and then another multi stemmed willow further along but on the Malvern side. Alex tried unsuccessfully to get a fire going so it was decided to stack the cut material and bring the chipper another week to dispose of the material. Paul used his newly acquired brushcutting skills and cut back a 2 metre strip on both sides of the track for a distance of 100  metres  to the north. He was delighted to come across a small patch of orchids which he left in full flower (a great sight  to find). Nick and Rachel were at hand and amongst other jobs moved the cut material across the track ready to chip so a short but useful days work. At the end of shift we had a chat with a couple of chaps from the operations department and Lawrence drove them down to Far Stanley to help them with ...

  5 of us yesterday.   We finished brushcutting on the Malvern side from Pecked Lane northwards to Station Road. As we went along vegetation was cleared from the neighbours fences was cleared. At the Station Road end we trimmed back the bushes that were close to the vehicle track.   We also followed up on a message received from the neighbour on the Cotswold side north of Station Road who pointed out the bank is overgrown and is concerned it might be a fire risk. There was clearly bird activity on the bank, so obviously we cannot tackle the bank until the end of the bird nesting season. However we did brush cut along the top of the bank, which should reduce the risk of lineside fires.   Further clearance is possibly a task for the autumn/summer?   Unless other urgent tasks come up during the week we will return next to finish tidying up.   David M