Tracking growth!

A couple of years ago we set about extending the tracked network around the Island. We used a technique developed by a contractor within the Forestry Commission which simply digs a hole near the track and exports the material onto the line of the path, hopefully a combination of gravel and clay and then back fills the hole with the top soil and forms a ditch in the remaining indentation. The paths are ideal for walker and cyclists and are just narrow enough to deter vehicles apart from quad bikes.

For the last two years we have simple monitored the tracks and occassionally had to tend to potholes but nothing serious, however this year the huge change in the weather to a normal summer has encouraged not only the surrounding undergrowth to engulf the paths but also in many areras the grass and fauna has grown through the paths material and is making them hard to follow. Whilst it was always our intention to have the paths become part of the habitat we had not intentded them to become quite so camouflagesd and over grown so drastic action is required.

Yesterday therefore Chay diapatched David with his strimmer to brash back the overgrown areas, however this may just encourage the grass to grow quicker and more densely but we hope that it will suffice for now as come the winter it will bind the paths together and make them more accessible whereas option two of weedkilling them would neither be enviromentally acceptable nor good for the structure of the paths in the long term. "The trials nature lays in our way!!"