One of Fingle’s rarely visited and quieter pockets of woodland is being made available for walkers to go out and explore. The Fingle volunteers have been hard at work over the last few months, opening up a small and adventurous route beside the stream in Hall’s Cleave. The stream has been prone to flooding in the past and a new, carefully engineered high-capacity concrete culvert was built last year to allow forestry vehicles to cross the stream, leaving the water to flow unrestricted. This is not the only crossing point of the water course. The volunteers have been building a set of bridges and a board walk from local timber. Jim White is the volunteers’ supervisor and has designed the timber structures along the new walking route between Clifford Bridge and the forest tracks towards Mardon Down.
While some of the volunteers have been assembling the chunky timber structures, others have been working further along the route, clearing vegetation. Jim explained “pulling the grand fir seedlings will open up the path and allow the extra sunlight needed for the woodland wildflowers and other plants”. The wildlife habitats along the stream are varied so the walk should be very interesting. Jim continued to describe how “two bridges and a board walk are in now and bridge number three is underway. As the path meanders along the valley, it crosses the water a few times before going into ‘new territory’, a new part of the route”.
To be continued …. Keep reading the blog to find out how the footpath develops and whether any new wildlife discoveries are made.by Matt Parkins
