Hi there all -
Does anyone live in the Thame area, Oxfordshire, or use the Pheonix Trail which runs from Thame, Oxon to Princes Risborough, Bucks. This is a fantastic off-road trail full of wildlife but sadly, it appears, not being managed in the right way, in my amateur opinion! I would like to set up a 'user group' to represent the views of users of the trail to the owners and managers of it, SUSTRANS. If anyone is interested in putting their views forward - with the aim of improving the management of this great route to something with far more potential for maintaining the variety of wildlife that we have along it, and to also getting the litter cleared and then maintained as a litter-free trail (if you're also interested in the possibility of getting involved in hands-on tasks too, even better) then please let me know. Whilst I don't have any experience of user groups personally, I would also welcome any advice from anyone who does - and if there are any ecologists in this area out there who would be happy to put forward a more informed opinion than me, that would be brilliant. There are along the trail a number of species currently listed as 'priority' on the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, and I've counted 19 species of butterfly in less than a one mile stretch - the trail also adjoins the Cuttlebrook Nature Reserve, where Small Heath butterfly and a number of other threatened wildlife species can be found, as well as adjoining farmland where there are various mammals, including brown hare, and declining farmland birds such as skylark. There is a great deal of bird life on the trail and whenever I walk along it the cacophany (though a beautiful one!) of birdsong is almost deafening! It is, in effect, a nature reserve in it's own right, but the wholesale cutting of ALL vegetation, up to about 6 metres back from the tarmac path, on flat verges and embankments, three times a year, seems excessive, and having spoken to ONCF (Oxfordshire Nature Conservation Forum) and other WAB users, there are others seem to support this view, in particular ONCF. There is an excellent variety of flowering plants, a number of tree species, and plenty of hedgerow, which is often damaged by the cutting regime. I have spoken to SUSTRANS several times about these issues but am not getting an entirely 'positive' response, let's say. Apart from anything else, I think it would be a very useful thing for trail users to have a an organised forum in which to have their say on their needs from this route, as there seems to be (though I could be wrong) no interaction from it's owners with it's users.
If anyone would like to chat about this further, let me know!
Thanks,
Eve
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