Eastern End Maintenance
Eastern End Maintenance
by: Stuart H.
Another Monday morning out at Claymeadow Cutting, just outside South Cerney, to finish off removing the fallen willow left over from the week before last. The only problem today was that the water level had risen slightly making it just that bit more awkward to get at the branches.
Chris ventures in to tie the haul rope on the log
Extracting this sort of wood is where a horse would come in handy, there’s no simple access for machines, but a horse could trot up the path and do the log retrieval without any bother. As it is, we must rely on manpower which isn’t so efficient: One manpower = a unit of power based on the rate at which a man can work; approximately 75 watts, or about one tenth of a horsepower. In other words, it takes ten strong men to do the work of one horse.
The weather wasn’t really on our side either today, with scattered showers interrupting the job.
It’s amazing how some of the trees continue to grow when you see the ravaged trunks. Some, like the example below, must be on their last legs (or partial trunks).
The bed was cleared as much as was feasible given the circumstances, another visit in the height of summer will be needed when the bed has dried out.
Next stop was down in the cutting just before the top lock. More dead wood overhanging the towing path to remove.
Looking at the LiDAR image of the area it appears that some of the cutting has been formed by the spoil being heaped along the sides; this would make sense given that equipment available during the period when the canal was constructed was men with shovels. Removing the spoil would be an extra cost and a waste of the labour resource.
Some clearance work on the bank was carried out and the branches that were removed were stacked to make bug hotels or habitat log piles, these make great refuges and hibernation habitats for invertebrates, amphibians and reptiles. Squirrels can use them for storing food, and birds can forage and nest on them. All part of the drive towards improving the biodiversity of the canal.
That’s it for this week, change of location next Monday and hopes of some dryer weather.
