Meanwhile on the Montgomery Canal, it’s a case of ‘no newts is good newts’ for the Shropshire Union Canal Society’s volunteers...
Progress Montgomery Canal
Montgomery Canal
Pictures by SUCS
It has been a difficult year for the Shropshire Union Canal Society’s restoration work on the Montgomery, a result of the Great Crested Newts (GCNs) present between Bridges 84 and 85. The elation last June of re-watering from Bridge 83 to 84 (Navvies 266) turned to frustration as months dragged by without a newt licence to allow work to start on the other side of Bridge 84. We occupied ourselves doing what we could on the banks and with moving into and organising our new compound. Finally in October we got a decision - Natural England rejected the Canal & River Trust’s licence application. We passed the winter and early spring on other parts of the canal with an extended hedge-laying season and some enhancement work. CRT reapplied in March and a licence for the first 85 metres of channel arrived on the Friday morning at the start of our May work party. This allowed us to complete the newt fencing around the area, which in turn allowed the newt trapping phase to begin. CRT ecologists visited site Stripping off vegetation and (below) placing it on the bank every morning for 60 days to check the traps and moved 70 GCNs out of the fenced area. Thus we were able to spend the July and August WPs clearing the site of vegetation. The chest-high vegetation was strimmed down by degrees before being scraped off by excavator. Each step was overseen by sharp-eyed ecologists who rescued a further 10 GCNs which had avoided the traps. Much of this ‘newt friendly’ vegetation has been placed along the offside bank between Bridges 83 and 84. September should see the start of more conventional earthworks. Detailed monthly accounts of the restoration work can be found on the Society’s website at: www.shropshireunion.org.uk/ montgomery-canal-restoration
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