Cothill Fen, 26th September 2015

By Andrew -
A slightly smaller group than usual, nine Green Gymmers assembled in the car park for the first of two visits to Cothill Fen on our current programme. We were working under the direction of Judy Webb, who is an expert on the wildlife and ecology of the area. 

It was a lovely day, with blue sky and sunshine and hardly any wind. We were pleased to see Erin, who had completed her Duke of Edinburgh bronze section in the Spring, back again. Our main task was to rake a large area of cut reed and to cut down the alder that was sprouting from the tree stumps. We needed to use large wooden rakes for the reeds and it was hard work, with the added exciting possibility of stepping thigh deep in muddy fen water. 

The deepest part of the fen is fenced off with an electric fence to prevent the horses, which graze the fen for part of the year, from falling in. These horses are from Wales and will eat even the toughest vegetation. They didn't seem to be around when we were there, however. Maybe they had gone to Twickenham to watch an important rugby match.

After a welcome tea break, we continued working. A number of rare species can be found in this alkaline fen, including Grass of Parnassus (parnassia palustris), with its five petalled white flowers. Cothill Fen and Parsonage Moor are the southernmost limits of its range. Judy also took a photo of mating common darter dragonflies (sympetrum striolatum).

By the end of the session there was still quite a large area that we hadn't managed to rake. but we will be back again in two weeks' time to finish the job.
-Eleanor



Cutting back sprouting alder

Erin and Kate piling up the reeds

James raking

Judy working behind the electric fence

Lesley handing round the biscuits

The fen at the end of the session

Mating pair of common darter dragonflies Sympetrum striolatum (photo by Judy Webb)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pinkhill Meadow Nature Reserve, Farmoor Reservoir, 16th March 2019

By Andrew -
Image
Another week, another new site for the Abingdon Green Gym! We met at the car park at Farmoor Reservoir, a healthy turn out of 17 of us, including French father Sebastien, and his eleven-year old son, Maelo, who was joining us for a school project. The session was led by James under the instruction of Hanna Jenkins, the warden of Pinkhill Meadow Nature Reserve, so called because it is right on the banks of the River Thames, just near Pinkhill Lock. It was another blustery day. Will this crazy wind ever let up? We followed Hanna in convoy round the edge of the reservoir, which was choppy to say the least, and parked up on the other side where it was thankfully a little calmer, the high banks of the reservoir providing some shelter. Equipped with our tools, gloves and goggles, we made our way onto the spot on the nature reserve where we were to do our work. Hanna told us that the reserve had been formed in 1991, but some aspects had been neglected over the last ten years. The aim
Read more

Kennington Memorial Field, 29th October 2016

By Andrew -
We have been working at Kennington Memorial Field for a number of years now, clearing scrub from the slopes so that the valley remains an area of grassland and wild flowers. This time Rachel from Oxford Preservation Trust was in charge and led us down to the lower end of the field, where we were to cut back the trees and bushes by several metres and burn the scrub on a bonfire. We were joined by some families with children of varying ages, the youngest only three, who had answered a local appeal for volunteers. We set to work and soon we had a bonfire going. Even the children who were too young to use loppers and saws joined in, carrying branches to the bonfire pile. Despite the drizzly weather they all worked cheerfully. At tea break time we enjoyed some delicious snacks that Rachel had brought and a tin of chocolates supplied by Michele. We found two old birds' nests in the course of the morning and cutting back the scrub revealed a log pile with a rabbit hole under
Read more

Ock Valley Walk, Town End, 22nd June 2013

By Andrew -
Image
Quite a small group gathered for this session and the weather didn't look promising. However, we were pleased to welcome a new member, Laura. We set off for the woodchip path,where we made our encampment. The nettles had grown high and dense since our previous visit, almost concealing the young trees, compising beech, oak, silver birch, cherry and rowan, which we had planted as whips almost two and a half years previously. One of our tasks was to clear the nettles and other vegetation immediately around them. As you can see from the photo of the young cherry, most of the trees are flourishing. Other tasks were to cut up and clear fallen branches into piles and the inevitable litter picking. There was a sharp shower shortly before 11 o'clock but it had stopped when we gathered for a welcome tea break. By the end of the morning we had finished clearing round the trees, tidied away the dead wood and picked up quite a respectable amount of litter, though I suspect t
Read more