Lull before Goretti

Thursday 8^th January

We were fortunate with a window of reasonable weather for today’s work. The overnight drizzle, mist and low cloud cleared as we assembled at Winchcombe, and the first pulse of rain that storm Goretti brought arrived as we were packing away. At one point we even saw a bright patch in the sky!

Ten of the team attending. A new excuse from one who didn’t; he was trapped by heavy snow in Aberdeenshire.

Dave, Nigel and John took one of the Transits and headed to Swindon Lane bridge, on the northern edge of Cheltenham Racecourse. They trimmed the vegetation around all the cess chambers and lineside signs between the RDA crossing and Kayte Lane crossing. Plus a little bit more serious clearance on the down (Cotswold) side cutting just south of the bridge – probably a section we missed last winter.

It is not only vegetation that we clear from drain grills - here are several empty drink cans on the down side high mileage of Southam Lane bridge. [Photo by Dave]

Nigel tackles at least two years of bramble growth near Southam Lane. [Photo by Dave]

John on raking duty with Southam Lane bridge in the background. [Photo by Dave]

Ian, Peter and Stuart also undertook clearance, but this was a bit more serious. This was the ‘Bonsai World’ stream where is becomes a toe ditch on the down side running towards cross drain 40B. We are not sure when this section of ditch was last cleared – hence the initial attack was with loopers and a hedge trimmer. Only once overhanging branches were out of the way could they deploy brush cutters. They managed to clear almost the whole length, frustratingly leaving just a few yards for next time. Some interesting discoveries included an abandoned pipe from the down side cess to this ditch; and three field drains from the adjoining field.

Abandoned SGP pipe that once linked the down side cess to the toe ditch low mileage of 40B. There is a newer connection with a proper headwall a little further along, see below. 

Beyond the new cess connection, Peter uses the loopers to make access possible.

Ian almost totally hidden by vegetation - almost but not quite at the 40B inlet.

Dee and Andrew’s first tasks were to use the coloured dye tracer to establish some flows and leaks. First was the down side manhole on the low mileage of footbridge 39Z (alongside Two Hedges Road); this should flow into syphon cross drain 39B. The tracer dye established that the base of the manhole leaks ending up in the twinwall pipe running from the wingwall of bridge 40 to the down side cess. That will be a relatively easy one to fix – once we have some dry weather. Next was syphon 40A on the high mileage side of Two Hedges Road, where there is a small flow of water emerging from the up (Malvern) side cutting near the syphon washout cover. They put a bucket of dye into the 40A inlet on the top of the down side cutting; but even after an hour no coloured water emerged from the up side leak. This eliminates a broken syphon pipe as the source of this leak. Then the third dye test, as the now infamous Bonsai World stream. With the wetter weather over the past couple of months, we have noticed water flowing through the two twinwall pipes which lead directly to the cess chamber by the stream entry point. The dye test showed that this comes from the joint between the entry manhole and the length of 600mm diameter pipe in the crest ditch. This will be a bit more complex to fix, probably using mastic from the inside. So another job that has to wait for dry weather.

Green dyed water enters the down cess from the wingwall drain pipe of bridge 40. 

But only clear water flowed from the leak by the syphon washout cover of 40A.

The down side cess by the Bonsai World entry soon turned green when the dye was added to the man hole - the two plastic pipes here are those running direct from the crest.

Polly and Jonathan had a trip to Tewkesbury to take the Isuzu truck to a main dealer there. This is to fix a problem with the second set of keys which would open the vehicle but not start the engine. One the way back from Tewkesbury, they called in at Norths Bakery in Bishops Cleeve to obtain some hot Cornish pasties for all the team. They then joined Andrew and Dee clearing bulky items of debris from the up side cutting at the rear of the houses on Pagets Road. This has prevented the clearance contractor from fully clearing the cutting side with the robot flail. A lot of the debris was garden waste, including some large tree branches. Also some old drain pipes, concrete slabs, bricks and other rubble; plus numerous balls (football, rugby and golf).

Dee and Polly dealing with some of the larger branches on the cutting side.

The two lengths of soil downpipe which have probably been on the cutting side for many years.

After a short lunch break, with the help of the group who had completed the Southam Lane work, we brush cut two of these problem lengths of the cutting side. A third length and dealing with larger branches will be on the task list for next week. Then back to Winchcombe before the arrival of storm Goretti – one groups diverting via Working Lane to offload the wood debris there.

Neat and tidy - with just some larger branches and few lumps of concrete to collect next time.

Wildlife report: The most numerous birds we spotted today were sparrows – as the urban section at Bishops Cleeve is one of the few lengths of the railway providing their favoured habitat. Several magpies noted too, and, as usual for Cleeve, quite a few gulls. At lunch time we noted a heron perched on the ridge of a house; maybe eyeing up a garden fish pond. It was soon chased off by two of the gulls and then mobbed by a crow. Finally we noted two different robins whilst working on the 40B toe ditch – maybe partners or maybe the ditch extends into two territories. The only mammal spotted was a grey squirrel.

First Footing

With both Christmas Day and New Year’s Day this winter falling on Thursdays; to avoid loosing two working days, by a majority democratic decision, the team decided on a Friday workday for one week. Maybe this was a desire to work off some the excesses of Christmas!

Thursday 1^st January

However, for one of our team, Friday is a paid work day. So, in his role as vehicle and plant maintenance, Jonathan attended on New Year’s Day. With all the vehicles in the yard, this was an ideal opportunity to give them all a good external wash and for some an internal clean.

The white Ranger gets a foam snow wash. Overnight there was some real snow. [Photo by Jonathan]

Four clean vehicles - a rare sight! [Photo by Jonathan]

Friday 2^nd January

So to break the ice on 2026 (literarily!) seven of the team put in a full day, with help for two others who had other commitments in the afternoon.

We tried our best to keep the three vehicles we used clean – participially be not going tack side and cleaning boots before climbing board. However, the muddy puddles in Winchcombe yard and on on the roads can not be avoided.

All the team headed for Toddington to park in the station car park. Usually we started with a tea/coffee break to warm up – and consume some festive edibles. Then down to work.

Nigel and Peter cleared the vegetation on the top of the down (Cotswold) side cutting on the low mileage of Stowe Road Bridge. This was to enable a survey to determine where to cut a new drainage ditch. This is to catch the field and road run off; routing this to new French drain (or maybe a pipe) to take the water to the down side cess well away from the bridge. Currently in very wet periods, water cascades under the side arch of the bridge, washing down large amounts of silt. A lot of this ends up on the cess, exactly where locos are coupled or uncoupled and in the cess drains. And sometime the water flows across Stowe Road and flooding into Station Cottages.

Dave, Martin, John and Phil set to work clearing the entrance on the up (Malvern) side cutting crest and then continued along the crest fence line all the way to Stanway Viaduct. There is a crest drain pipe for half of this length; with some new(ish) chambers towards the viaduct. Nigel joined the Stanway bound group, clearing around the cess chambers on both sides of the line.  

The 'new' crest drain pipe was flowing slowly so showing why crest drains are so important in keeping cutting sides dry and stable. [Photo by Dave]

The north end of Toddington North cutting where it falls away to the embankment leading to Stanway viaduct is a very photogenic spot. Even with just a stationary line of goods wagons on the siding. One of the 'new' crest drain chambers in the foreground. [Photo by Dave]

The Stanway vegetation cutting group are just visible in the distance. The frost on the sleepers in the shadow of the bridge lasted all day. 

Meanwhile Dee and Andrew began excavating the deposited silt from around the first down side cess chamber by the bridge pier. A tricky job here as there are four S&T cables which run either over the top of the chamber or actually through it. Peter and Phil later joined; enabling the removal of the metal mesh chamber lid and thus use of a grab to remove the accumulated silt from the chamber. Also the lid removed, we were able to finalise a plan for the improvements. This will be to raise the chamber by one brick course, either side of the cable, then to install a GRP chamber ring and blue mesh lid to raise the height of the chamber. Also the plan is to construct a small retaining wall behind the chamber – both of these measures should reduce the amount of silt entering the cess drain. And make for a less muddy path under the bridge to the end of the platform for the train crews.

The cess chamber cleared of silt and the inverted U channels over the top of the S&T cables.

Checking for size and height of the planned rebuilt.

Metal grid lid removed.

Phil, Peter, Dee and John on the chain gang using the grab to remove silt from the chamber and to dispose where it will not flow back in.

Whilst we were there, we removed a long redundant fence post adjacent to the bridge pier. It obviously dates from the time when a fence extended across the track bed under the bridge when operations were only to the south of Toddington. Whoever installed that post intended it to last – no amount of digging or hammering would shift it. So when Ian arrived (see below), he was promptly dispatched to fetch a chain saw to cut the post off. There is a similar post on the up side of the line – we shall remove another day!

John, Dee and Peter attempt excavation of the fence post. Note the deployed red flags, however, no stock movements took place. 

The sawn off fence post stump - well ensconced in a lump of solid concrete.

Temporary covers in place.

Wildlife report: On his way into Winchcombe, Ian cam across an injured tawny owl sitting in the middle of the road. He stopped to investigate, and as the bird was too injured to resist, he put it in the bot of his car. At Winchcombe we found a cardboard box and some paper towels to make a more comfortable bed/nest; and then set about finding a suitable rescue centre to take the casualty to. This turned out to be almost back to Worcester – so a bit of a journey, hence Ian’s later arrival at Toddington. We did save him an iced bun (Ian that is, not the owl).

The injured tawny owl.

Other more mundane observations at Winchcombe were our resident robin in the wooden shed and a very low flying male pheasant who came to investigate the owl. Observations from the top of the cutting sides at Toddington included grey wagtails, Red Kites and buzzards. No sign of any mammals, not surprisingly since the daytime maximum temperature was only 3C (or 37.4 °F on the heritages scale).

A Pleasant Afternoon

Thursday 18^th December

Today the team enjoyed a very pleasant afternoon – but this was certainly not down to the weather. In fact, from mid morning to later afternoon, the weather was definitely very unpleasant; with extremely heavy rain (yellow weather warning) and low cloud. For sure, this was the heaviest rain we have experienced on a working day this year.

Before the rain started, Dave, John and Phil set off trackside to Hayles Abbey Halt with a supply of blue mesh GRP chamber covers. We had been notified that the robot flail had discovered one of the chambers that we missed when clearing the up side embankment there. The group found the relevant chamber with one broken lid and one in the chamber. Quickly fixed, temporarily with one of the mesh lids. We have added this to the growing list of cess chambers which either need raising with extra rings or marking with posts – or both.

Up side cess chamber at Hayles Abbey after the close encounter with the robot flail. [Photo by Dave]

... and after the temporary repair. [Photo by Dave]

The group then headed north to Didbrook to check on culvert 14B. Another report received we had received suggested problems with the down side toe ditch that takes excess water from cross drain 14A. However, whilst this was flowing strongly, the condition of the ditch where it enters the 14B stream had not deteriorated since our inspection two months ago. It is one that is on our watch list; as the downcutting of the toe ditch exit does need addressing sometime. As ever, the big problem is getting materials and plant to the bottom of a very steep embankment with ploughed fields adjacent. The group of three were back at Winchcombe in time for mid morning tea/coffee break.

Phil and John examine where the down side toe ditch from 14A starts downcutting on the entry to 14B. [Photo by Dave]

On the up side exit of 14B the backing up of the water because of poor conditions down stream outside of railway land is evident. [Photo by Dave]

We and the Railway’s vehicle manger have noted that our fleet of road vehicles are suffering from problems caused by infrequent and light usage. Very rarely do any of them get a long run, or even a day of heavy work. Consequently issues such a coking up of the engines are occurring. To address this we will be instigating a regular run out with each vehicle in turn on a route which includes some hill climbs and some roads where the legally permitted maximum speed can be safely achieved. So Jonathan and Polly took the white Ranger out to map out a suitable route for this. With the rain and low cloud, this turned out not to be the best day for a tour around the Cotswolds! So, sorry, no nice pretty pictures from this trip!

Meanwhile, back at base, the team's chief engineer, Ian, assisted by Martin undertook maintenance on most of our brush cutter and hedge trimmers. Some of these machines get heavy usage in the autumn and winter as they are shared with the Lineside Clearance teams. Hence the most common problem is erratic running caused by obstructed air filters.

The other attendees, Andrew, Peter, Roger, Stuart, started on the reorganisation of the wooden shed in Winchcombe Yard. Now that S&T have moved all of the equipment, tools and materials they wish to retain to their new workshop we have quite a bit more space for our items. However, a proper reorganisation needs to wait for the roof to be repaired and mains power and light to be restored. We carefully selected the driest part of shed to move our stock of cement and render to.

Elves in the dark! Shed reorganisation by torch light.

Dave sweeps some of the accumulated dust from where the concrete was piled. The snow scoops make for good dustpans!

Signing off time for all involved was 12:30; to enable a good wash and change into clean ‘decent’ clothes for our team annual lunch. The venue was the Royal Oak at Gretton. We had a table in the back lounge, which normally has the view over the Railway and onwards to the Malvern and Clent Hills. Not today though! Team member Dee and Infrastructure Manger Sarah joined us, for a very pleasant meal and an afternoon’s relaxation. A great way to finish off a busy and successful year for the team. The flooded roads and swollen streams and rivers that most of us encountered on our homeward journeys was a very apt reminder of why we have to keep on top of the Drainage infrastructure.

L to R - Polly, Martin, Phil, Dave, Jonathan, Ian, Sarah, Dee, Stuart and an arm of John's Christmas jumper! Rain and cloud in the background almost hiding the Railway less than 100 yards away.

From the other end of the table, (L to R) Sarah, Dee, Stuart, John, Peter, Roger, Polly, Martin, Phil.

Wildlife report: The group at Hayles Abbey spotted a single roe deer, a rabbit and a male pheasant. The resident robin of the wooden shed at Winchcombe kept a low profile whilst we reorganised the shed below his nest. We did find some evidence of small rodents (probably mice) having taken up home amongst all the old items which had not been disturbed for years. Once the rain eased and the cloud lifted a bit, from the commanding position of the rear lounge of the Royal Oak we did spot a small murmuration over the railway towards Greet tunnel – too far away to determine if they were starlings or finches. Other than that it was, not surprisingly, not a good day for wildlife spotting. Not a good day for working outside either.

Seasonal Greetings

Te team will not be working next Thursday (Christmas Day) or the following Thursday (New Year's Day). However, quite a few of the regular members expressed a desire to work off some of the festive excess, so our next working day will be Friday 2^nd January. Thus, as this is the last blog entry for this year, on behalf of the team I send Seasonal Greetings to all our readers and wish you all a peaceful, prosperous, healthy and happy 2026.

Inspections complete

Thursday 11^th December

The main task that the team undertook today was the clearance and internal visual inspection of cross drains 40B, 41A, 41B and 41C. This completes this year’s programme of cross drain and culvert clearance and visual inspections, part of the ‘Predict and Prevent Asset Management’ programme. Completing these inspections a week before Christmas is a first for the team. The main contributory factors being an increase in team size and some of the larger culverts not requiring internal inspections as they were covered in detail by external examiners. We have almost managed to stick to the schedule planned back in August when we commenced at Little Buckland. Strictly we have all of January as contingency, as the 'year' aspect coincides with both the Railway’s financial year which ends on 31^st January and the accepted bird nesting season which starts on 1^st February.

Ten of the team enjoyed an almost pleasant winter’s day, without rain and with some sunshine. However, a stiff wind kept the temperature down, so lunch was taken inside the vehicles.

Dave, Nigel and John left Winchcombe Yard first, destination Bishops Cleeve. Then they reversed down the vacant track bed to start clearing at cross drain 41B. This is one of the smaller structures, also one which only seems to flow during very wet periods. It certainly had been dry for most of this summer and autumn, as the outlet chamber required animal (most likely badger) bedding removed. Then on to syphon cross drain 41C at Kayte Lane foot crossing. This is a much larger structure, with two syphon pipes cages over the outlets. This was flowing quite steadily – we have only once seen this stream run dry.

41B outlet, removing the badger bedding. Yes it does take three of the team to do that, while three more supervise from above!

Jonathan, Polly, Dee and Andrew formed group two – again heading to Bishops Cleeve. First task for them was checking up on a few items around Pecked Lane crossing and Two Hedges Road bridge. Then a tidy up of the up (Malvern) side embankment south of Two Hedges Road. This involved clearing some debris from the clearance operations of the past month from the above the up side cess drain, and extracting some larger items which had prevented our clearance contractors robot flail from fully cutting the scrub on the embankment back to the fence line. It was obvious that some of these items originated with some of our less considerate neighbours.

Our contractors large robot flail can not cope with this size of tree branch - up side cutting south of Two Hedges Road.

Group three, Roger, Peter and Martin, first had a small task near the low mileage portal of Greet Tunnel. One of the PWay track inspectors had reported broken lids on one cess chamber. These we replaced with a blue mesh cover; and the old thick concrete lids used to weigh it down. Most of the cess chambers between the tunnel and Winchcombe station received some minimal attention over 30 years ago as part of the reopening through the tunnel. The intervening years have left their mark, so we plan to address these in a similar manner to the cess chambers in Dixton cutting that we rebuilt a couple of years ago.

Cess chamber near Greet Tunnel with cracked lid and deteriorating brickwork. Those lids are very heavy, and identical replacements are not available. We think they may date from GWR days in the 1930s or BR Western Region times in the 1950s. [Photo by Peter]

Group three then also headed to Two Hedges Road, and formed the clearance team for cross drain 40B (apart from the Bonsai World stream entry and down side crest ditch – cleared last week) and cross drain 41A.

Martin climbs back up the embankment from the up side outlet of 41A, whilst Peter finishes off the racking out. This cross drain rarely flows; which is a good job as you can see there is no outlet ditch into the playing field.

Once again the size of the team enabled the clearance and inspecting to proceed at a good pace. So the ‘inspections completed’ state was reached at lunchtime.

Job done - loading up after finishing the final clearance and inspection at 41C, Kayte Lane.

After lunch group three took all the collected debris to add to the piles at the bottom of the haul road at Working Lane. Whilst groups one and two spent some time investigating the Bonsai World inlet stream. We found that there is some water seeping from the crest ditch through the French drains in the cutting side down into the cess. Following the burst water main on New Road a month of so ago, and some work undertaken upstream, it appears that this Bonsai World stream is carrying more water; with a less flowing in the streams further south. The landowner of the small holding adjacent to the main inlet of 40B is also of this opinion. Hence we are now thinking of extending the piped section of the crest ditch. This will require some realignment of the ditch; so we undertook some exploratory excavations. Our main conclusion was that any work will probably be lot easier in late spring when the clay has dried out a bit but not become rock hard. Looks like we will have a busy 2026!

The current outlet of the Bonsai World stream in the crest ditch. To get another section of pipe to join will required digging out roughly where the photographer was standing.

Wildlife report: As usual at Bishops Cleeve, the resident gulls announced their presence mid morning. It was certainly noticeable that this urban stretch of line has a different bird life profile that the rural stretches. No sign of any raptors today; but several robins, thrushes, and black birds. Whilst in Winchcombe Yard there was evidence of visitations by pheasants.

Facing serious competition

Thursday 4^th December

Some of your may have noticed an item on the news page of the Heritage Railway Association (HRA) or have read an item regarding the shortlists for the HRA’s 2026 Awards. If you have, you will have seen that the GWSR’s submission in the Infrastructure category achieved a placing on the short list. What you probably don’t recognise is the name of the project – ‘Predict and Prevent’ Asset Management. The full title is more descriptive - “Predict & Prevent: A Whole-Railway Asset Management Approach to Water and Infrastructure Resilience on the GWSR”. Below are a couple of extracts from the description of the project, as in the HRA Award submission.

The Predict and Prevent project … recognises that water is not a discrete maintenance issue, but the most pervasive long-term risk to track stability, earthworks, and structural integrity.

Historically, drainage works were carried out reactively - culverts and ditches cleared when blocked, blockages addressed when flooding occurred. The GWSR is transforming this into a systematic, risk-based asset-management project rooted in the principles of predict and prevent.

This philosophy is all about ensuring that water management activity directly supports the preservation of track quality, maintaining dry and well-compacted formations that reduce geometry defects and maintenance effort. It protects earthworks, preventing slips, slumps and loss of bearing capacity, and safeguards bridges and culverts through recognising scour and undermining risk. In short, good drainage serves as the foundation for every other engineering discipline on the line.

The HRA Annual Awards are the biggest and most prestigious in the heritage rail world. The winners will be revealed at a high-quality event in the Welsh coastal resort of Llandudno during March 2026. However, we are up against some serious competition. The other shortlisted projects are: The National Railway Museum’s refurbishment and reinterpretation of Station Hall in York, The Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway’s ‘Independent Line’ project and Peak Rail’s traditional locomotive watering facility.

Thanks to John Dora and Ian Crowder for compiling the submission.

Seven of the team were at the forefront of implementing ‘Predict and Prevent’ today, with the continuation of our annual programme of culvert and cross drain clearance and inspection. Nigel, Peter and Martin started with the clearance around the large culvert 39A at Pecked Lane, Bishops Cleeve. As most of this structure is pipes under the tack, the vegetation clearance here is minimal. They then moved on to syphon cross drain 39B on the low mileage side of Two Hedges Road; then the second syphon cross drain 40A on the other side of the bridge. Finally they started the clearance of the crest ditch that carries the ‘Bonsai World’ stream on the down (Cotswold) side of the line towards cross drain 40B. The vegetation clearance here is far from minimal!

Clearing the access up the cutting side to the inlet of 40A was helped by the recent work of the Wednesday Lineside Clearance team who have cut back the dense scrub well clear of the running line.

The other group, Jonathan, Stuart, John and Andrew, headed to the playing field off Millham Road in Bishops Cleeve. This was to access the outlet (on the up or Cotswold side of the line) of culvert 38A, which is now outside of Railway land.

Jonathan (in the stream), Stuart and John work on the outlet of 38A in the playing field. A fence post of the old boundary fence is just visible on the right.

After removal of vegetation around the exit and in the stream; they then checked on the inlet on the down side of the line. The wet days in the past week had made their mark, as the water level was up and the speed of flow greater than last week. All the water courses inspected today were flowing at something like normal rates – this year’s hot dry summer is fast becoming a memory! Next to 39A at Pecked Lane to open the lid of the manhole above the railway boundary exit to remove debris which collects where the bore splits into two pipes.

Only a small amount of debris to remove through the manhole of 39A outlet. 

No obstructions in the main bore of 39A under the railway. [Photo by Jonathan]

Also they undertook clearance of the trash screen on the inlet.

The inlet channel of 39A is shallow enough to clear without wearing Wellingtons; as demonstrated by John (left) and Stuart.

Another manhole lid to open was a 39B on the inlet side; where we noted most of the flow was heading for the down side cess rather than taking the pipe to the syphon. We rebuilt or repaired the two syphon chambers of 39B earlier this year, so, not surprisingly these were noted as in fine condition. Finally for the today’s inspections was syphon cross drain 40A. Rebuilding the down side inlet is on our ‘to do’ list; but probably not on next year’s schedule.

The two teams met up for lunch – fortunately by then the rain had stopped. However it was not a deckchair lunch. After lunch all seven attended to removal of some debris from the up side cutting side south of Two Hedges Road. Work by our clearance contractor with a robot flail, and by our colleagues in the Wednesday Lineside Clearance team had unearthed various items that need removing. We loaded some onto the Transit truck we had, but the rest will need to wait until we take an empty vehicle there.

A discovery by the fence line at the top of the up side embankment near Pecked Lane crossing was this manhole with a displaced collar and lid. Although inside the fence line, this is not railway drainage, but a residential sewer. So one for Severn Trent Water to deal with. [Photo by Jonathan]

Wildlife report: Unsurprisingly with a dull, grey wet morning our wildlife spotting was minimal. A large black domestic cat at Millham Road probably does not count as wildlife! On the journey back to Winchcombe when the rain had stopped and the sky had cleared a bit, we did spot a pair of buzzards, the usual gulls of Cleeve, several magpies and flocks of LBJs (little brown jobs!)

14 degrees

Thursday 27^th November

On arrival at Winchcombe Yard this morning, the air temperature was 11C. Last week at the same time it was -3C. A difference of 14 Degrees, and we are one week closer to winter. Mind you, it did not feel at all mild, with no sunshine and a strong westerly wind. Certainly a day to keep warm by working and not one for a deck chair lunch break.

Peter Brown, the Railway’s Chief Civil Engineer, joined six team members heading to Manor Lane at Gotherington. Nigel, Martin and Dave arrived first with most of the tools on the LWB Transit van, they proceeded with the clearance of cross drains. Commencing with a little bit more at 37C; they then continued south dealing with 37E, 37F and 37G. 37G is an unusual structure in that it does not run under the railway; instead it runs under a footpath on the down (Malvern) side; the footpath goes under bridge 38.

Roger assisted Peter inspecting and understanding the drainage systems and what went where. Also they looked at embankment stability. Between Manor Lane and Station Road at Bishops Cleeve there are two sites which we are closely monitoring. One is where small gaps have appeared between the concrete cap of piling installed to correct a previous slip; and the other where a short length of the vacant trackbed has subsided. The later is potentially a site where we can trial a new product, plastic piling.

Jonathan first undertook some additional clearing on the outlet of cross drain 36B. This is the Dean Book, where the ditch in the adjacent downstream field is being substantially dredged. He then helped Roger and Peter, by digging some trial holes at the sites of the embankment cracks.

A major transformation of the Dean Brook beyond our boundary (cross drain 36B). [Photo by Jonathan]

Meanwhile, Andrew undertook the visual inspections of cross drains 37C, 37D, 37E, 37F and 37G. Even with some very wet days in the past week or so; all of the watercourses connected with these were only flowing slowly, or not at all. A big difference to last year's inspections, when we noted “flowing fast” or “flowing strongly” for many watercourses. In places, there was evidence of greater flow in recent days; obviously run off from the heavier rain. It looks like the recovery of the water table from the dry summer is going to take a few more weeks.

Looking towards the Malvern Hills over the outlet ditch of 37D. Our clearance contractor with a robot flail has made good progress. 

Where the outlet ditch of 37E exits the railway. Unusual to find this with out any standing water at all.

All seven met up for lunch at the site of Bishops Cleeve station. After lunch all worked on the final task for the day; clearing and inspecting the down side of culvert 38A. This included the toe ditches, one running alongside the mobile home park from cross drain 37G, the other on the high mileage side is fed by three pipes which we believe are connected to the myriad of streams which run down from Cleeve Hill. Not surprising this ditch was flowing, but only slowly. The main inlet of 38A had the strongest flow of all those inspected today.

Jonathan on trash screen clearance in the inlet stream of culvert 38A. Normally far too deep to stand in the stream here.

Peter and Roger checking their embankment inspection notes at Bishops Cleeve.

Wildlife report: The raptor count today was just two – Red Kite and Buzzard. No sign of the Gotherington kestrel. Crows and magpies abounded and, as expected, at Bishops Cleeve, several gulls were circling overhead. The closest bird encounter was inside the old wooden shed at Winchcombe yard – the resident robin. It seem he (or she) uses a hole in the bottom of the main door as access. On the vegetation front we noted some curious red roots in one of the toe ditches. Google’s ‘AI overview’ gives a likely explanation: “Roots of certain trees, like willows and alders, can turn red when exposed to light because they produce pigments called anthocyanins for protection.” Every day is a learning day!

Red roots at Bishops Cleeve. [Photo by Dave]