Cutting verges and shredding litter

For several weeks the verges of the guided busway have been looking fantastic, with a fine show of wild flowers. But it seems the Cambridgeshire County Council is now starting to trim the verges.

This blog has been contacted by Paul Verbinnen who writes about 'the wide scale destruction of the wildflowers alongside the Busway between Orchard Park and Oakington.

He says:

I understand that the Busway requires maintenance and wholeheartedly wish for more regular and meaningful maintenance, especially where the solar lights are obscured and the surface is breaking up. But it seems to me that over the last two days, 21st & 22nd July, unnecessary and excessive cutting has taken place. Whole stands of beautiful wild flowers have been destroyed and debris littered across the maintenance track. At the same time, the litter was not collected and now lies shredded and dispersed with probably ten times as much to pick up now. All in all, it looks dreadful and I’m really annoyed that some insects may have been destroyed too.

It appears that commonsense cutting of the immediate margin bordering the path has been ruled out and the maximum width selected for flailing. At the same time, the private contractors haven’t touched  the trailing brambles or protruding bushes and so the path remains narrowed. It would appear to be gross incompetence on the part of the County Council for doing unnecessary work and omitting the essential trimming. With shards of glass and metal cans now littering the banks it is only a question of time before that makes its way onto the path.

Here are two photos of the shredded litter.

Cutting of Busway Verges

I noticed last week grass has been cut about 1.5m wide strip adjacent to the bus track (but not along sides of cyclepath) between Swavesey & St Ives.

As of Friday evening, no sign of it having gone onwards towards Cambridge.

Photo: David Parish

 Do they have a guided grasscutter?

There are a number of places where the grass / hedges / brambles beside the path are in need of trimming; it is particularly bad near Histon stop:

Photo: David Parish

I would say this is dangerous – if you catch a bramble in your face whilst cycling it could be nasty.  

I have not been along in the dark, but I guess many of the stud lights are obscured by overhanging weeds.

I've submitted a "highways fault" note to Cambridgeshire County Council.....

Update 14 September

I note the trimming of the grass strip beside the bus track has now continued, and conclude from the marks left that we don't have a guided grass-cutter, but a person with a strimmer.

I've had no response from County Council, and not seen much signs of action.
I now carry a fold-up pair of secateurs, and have stopped and clipped off a few of the worst brambles, (blackberry and roses) that I have noticed in a few places.

Linked with above - and discussions on more recent posts on the recommended width of cycle track, this morning I measured the width of the track on the slope westward down from Covells Drain. (This is to the section that floods longest between Swavesey & Fen Drayton) . The track is 3.1m wide, but the vegetation was hanging over by 1.1m on the left and 0.6m on the right leaving a gap of just 1.4m, or 45% of what it should be.

Photo: David Parish

Busway botany

Yesterday I cycled from St Ives to Cambridge and on the return trip, I took my time stopping to photograph some of the wildflowers that fill the verges.  I've tried to identify their names but would welcome any comments or corrections and help with identifying the ones I'm not sure about.

Hedge Bindweed

Probably Wild Carrot 

Wild Parsnip

Opium Poppy

Great Mullein

Evening Primrose

Spear Thistle

Purple Loosestrife

Chicory

 Hedge Mustard

Field Scabious

Teasel

Wild flowers on guided busway

The verges of the guided busway are displaying a stunning array of wild flowers at the moment. The Ox Eye Daisies appear to stretch for miles.  If you're not already planning  to travel on the busway, I'd recommend that you make a special trip.

Here is a view between St Ives and Fen Drayton

And a couple of shots by a friend.

Photo by Andrew Brown - 3 July 2013

Photo by Andrew Brown - 3 July 2013

Nature and the busway

As a regular traveller between St Ives and Cambridge, I have been amazed and inspired by the magnificent display of wild flowers on the busway verges - ox eye daisies, poppies, mullein, mallow, Queen Anne's Lace to name a few of the more prominent species. Now many of the flowers have reached the seeding stage, and in the last few days the verges adjacent to the tracks have been trimmed. But the untrimmed areas further from the bus tracks are still looking glorious.


Evidently some residents of Orchard Park feel that these colourful verges are simply 'weeds'. See report  by Chris Havergal in the Cambridge News. The comments posted on the newspaper's website about this are interesting. There seems to be a split between those who think the 'weeds' are a blot on the landscape, and those who welcome these lush verges as a haven for wildlife.