Abbey Fishponds, 6th February 2016

By Andrew -
The weather forecast for the day was terrible and would have struck fear into the hearts of many conservation groups, but Abingdon Green Gymmers are made of sterner stuff and ten of us met for the work party at Abbey Fishponds. We were also joined by a group of six from the Earth Trust.

It was still raining at the start but the rain soon eased off and stopped and although we didn't see the sun, it remained dry for the rest of the session.

The tasks were to cut back a large bramble patch, to move some branches and brash to a new location in the woodland and to mend the willow fence along the top path with branches from the willow coppicing in the reed bed . We split into groups for these various jobs. The fence repair proved difficult as many of the uprights were missing or rotting.

After the tea break the Earth trust volunteers brought newly cut willow stakes, which we sharpened and they banged in with a heavy mallet so then then the weaving was much easier and the fence much stronger.

Towards the end of the session the wind increased and by the time we were on the way home heavy rain returned and continued for the rest of the day. So once again, Green Gym luck with the weather had held.
-Eleanor


Kristine and Ursula tackle the bramble patch

Barry gets down to some sawing

Carolyn transports branches

Kate and Dieuwke start on the fence repair

A well earned tea break

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