Workdays

Today (8th October) a small team of Rangers, fortified by Mavis's cake, made a start on our annual cut back of the vegetation on R54/68 at Mickleover.
The starting point was close by the Curved Seat, where the footpath crosses to Black Wood. On future work days we will work Eastwards towards the Veteran Tree and Westwards towards the One Mile Marker.
The vegetation has grown alarmingly during the Summer, no doubt due to the above average rainfall.
We have some non-Sustrans volunteers coming along to help with this work on Saturday next (10th October), some of whom are coming courtesy of the Probation Service and perhaps could not therefore be described strictly as "volunteers".

Apart from this work we have several small jobs which need attention but do not warrant a full work team, and can be done at any time.
The list is as follows.
1.Repair broken hasp on Bannel’s Gate.
2.Over paint graffiti on Pink Bridge artwork. (Phil Harris).
3.Re-paint Pink Bridge.
4.Re-letter signs on Five Mile Gate.
5.Fit smaller grill on (supposedly) squirrel-proof bird feeder.
6.Make and fit new sign for seat at Kingfisher Bridge.
7.Cut back shrubs alongside Old Station Close entrance.
8.Replace rotten wood on seat East of A50 tunnel.
9.Re-position No.1 Seat at Breadsall.
10.Re-position bird nest box at Veteran Tree.
11.Repair broken bird table at Mickleover Station.
12.Prepare poster for Breadsall Opening Ride (Ian Dent).
13.Strim around all R54 seats. (Les Sims).
14.Plant conifer tree at Mickleover Station (Les Sims).
15.Re-align R66 signs on Station Road and Chestnut Avenue in Mickleover
(reported to DCC).
16.Add R68 sticker to existing sign at Etwall by-pass seat (Les Sims).
17.Tighten bolts on all R54/68 gates.
18.Repair barbecue. (Les Sims)
19.Oil all locks on R54/68 gates.
20.Make and install more bird nest boxes.
If you have the time and the expertise to take on any of these tasks, please let me know. We have materials for most of them, although we need a steel mesh grill of about 1.5 inch mesh for the bird feeder. Please check grillpans etc.

We expect that the DCC Countryside Services Rangers will be coming next week to cut the verges of R54 all the way from Mickleover to Egginton. They will use a tractor mounted flail and will cut the verge approx 1m wide.