Good Progress on the Trackbed Members’ Walk

The Trust’s Wenhaston Environmental Team have continued, despite a major increase in biting insects onsite (good for the birds, anyway!) to clear and make safe the trackbed path. Many decades-worth of soil and detritus have washed down from the field above and to the south of the SRT boundary, making the path very uneven – so the team is levelling the surface, and providing a fine tilth so that (with regular strimming) grass, rather than weeds and nettles, will grow.
The Trust volunteers have also been checking on the remaining dead elms, some of which, suspended as they are on the top branches of adjacent live trees, might constitute a hazard to our members when they walk on their land, particularly in high winds. In a few weeks, the birds’ nesting season (during which all tree work is banned) will be over, so the remaining clearance can be undertaken. Work has been concentrated on the section of trackbed between the oak copse and meadow to the west, and the driftway crossing: the (much shorter) section to the eastern boundary can be tackled over winter 2014/15.
This part of the Blyth Valley and original SR trackbed, which is owned by the Trust and its members, is looking particularly glamorous at the moment, with many wild flowers, magnificent specimen trees, and wide country views. The Trust is very pleased to have secured this section of special landscape. The Members’ path under construction, and – later, given planning permission, the re-instated railway – will enhance and preserve the ambience of the valley.
Please note that only Southwold Railway Trust Members are allowed to walk this land (which runs approximately half a mile eastwards from Blyford Lane) – if you would like to share in the ownership and stewardship of this classic Suffolk landscape, then please join the Trust (£15 per year, online or at the shop at 27 High Street, Southwold).