Fig.1 - Vegetation North of Gasworks Bridge, Sep.2009

Fig.3 - Same view July 2010 awaiting spraying of the track.

There have also been several major litter picking parties of British Trust for Conservation Volunteers with the Shropshire Council again helpfully collecting all the rubbish.

Meanwhile down in Llynclys, the work done on clearing the embankments of Bramble and Wild Clematis last autumn, mainly by SWT, paid dividends this this spring with a beautiful array of Primroses, Cowslips and Dog Violets followed more recently by Common Spotted and Pyramidal Orchids. The annual plant survey reveals that this year close to 100 species (some 20 more than last year) were identified in the Llynclys area, including Ragged Robin. (Fig.5) below.

In the early part of this year professional arborists took on vegetation clearance between Middleton Road and Gasworks Bridges in Oswestry (see figs. 1-3)

This has has all been carried out in accordance with a Bio-diversity Management Plan developed in conjunction with Shropshire Wildlife Trust (SWT).

Fig.2 - Tree felling, early March 2010 before the nesting season in the same area.

Part of this policy is to replant where appropriate and thanks to the Hedge Fund (!) we were able, with a lot of volunteer help, to plant nearly 600 hedge whips in three different sites within the town along the line. (Fig.4) seen below.

Fig.4 - Newly painted hedge, south of Plas Ffynnon.

Fig.5 - Ragged Robin

We have also just received the first ever report on birdlife along the whole 8 miles of the CHR track. Allan Dawes of the British Trust for Ornithology has shown that the green corridor along the railway is a rich territory sustaining a good cross-section of resident and migratory birds (34 species) and is especially valuable out along the more rural parts of the line where it passes through cropped and grazed fields. The report strongly endorses the CHR policy of seeking to avoid any rapid and radical clearance of vegetation. So when clearance is required it should be carefully phased giving birds, and indeed all wildlife, a chance to adapt.

Although there have been wildlife surveys along the seven miles of track from Gobowen to Pen-y-Garreg Lane, the most recent was in 2005, and all were in the days before the Trust took on the ownership of the lease in April 2009. At a recent lecture, Robin Mager of the Shropshire Wildlife Trust(SWT) , gave a talk detailing just how few areas there are within the Oswestry Borough that are currently Local Nature Reserves. 

The Common Toadflax

This spring and summer SWT volunteers, who are currently involved with nearby Llynclys Common, have brought their surveying skills to bear on the stretch of the line south of Llynclys Junction in the first instance. This fits comfortably with the Ecological Management Plan for the Railway and should contribute to the likelihood of successful grant bids. It is an important step in securing an up-to-date account of just what flowers, butterflies, birds and creepy-crawlies we can expect to be sharing the line with, once trains are running the full length of the track.