Cothill Fen, 9th February 2019

By Andrew -
Twelve green gymmers turned up for our first outing at Cothill Fen for 2019. Today’s leader was Margaret, under the instruction of Judy Webb of Natural England and her colleague Steph. 

Two weeks had elapsed since our last session - owing to the snow of he previous weekend, thus we were raring to go!

It was a beautiful morning with pale winter sunlight breaking through the clouds as we made our way to the fen. On arrival, we could see how much it has transformed since our last visit in December. The pond has expanded considerably over the area, proving that all that reed cutting and raking has been worth it. In addition, there had been a lot of tree work around the perimeter. Many of the ash trees are dying but rather than chop them down completely, they had been topped to allow jet ants to continue living in them, as these attract rare beetles and insects.

Our task for today was mainly hazel coppicing in the woodland beyond the fen. The aim of doing this is to allow light right down to the woodland floor so flora and fauna can flourish. We were to put the logs into one pile, useful long wands into another and brush into a third pile.

Other than that, Judy commandeered three members to rake some cut reeds into a channel at the other end of the fen. While there, a section of alder trunk was recovered from a tree that had recently been felled. The rings were counted and verified and it was found to be 107 years old!

By tea break we had made considerable progress and were ready for our refreshments. In addition to the usual biscuits, we heartily delved into a box full of Devon fudge which Joanna and Andrew had brought back from their honeymoon on Dartmoor. We feared this might precipitate a sugar slump for the second half of the session, but if anyone was planning on this, as Eleanor pointed out: ‘we’ve chopped down all the trees – there’s nowhere to hide!’

Notices were given, with two quiz nights in the offing, and then it was back to work.

A frenzied last hour saw us make good headway into the woods and we were pleased to receive some praise from a local resident who congratulated us on our continued efforts.

During the morning, Judy performed her usual surveys for noteworthy specimens, and shortly before close, she came brandishing a winter polypore fungus for Andrew to photograph. See below for evidence!
-Joanna and Andrew



Photos by Andrew (and Margaret and Joanna where indicated):

Joanna comes in peace.

The ever-changing view across the fen.

Carolyn and Sally get down to business.

What Rosie saw.

Kevin's perfect pitch (forking).

The rake's progress.

Joanna distributes the fudge at breaktime.

Andrew shows off his trunk (photo by Margaret).

Eleanor with nowhere left to hide (photo by Margaret).

The pollarded ash/jet ant hotel (photo by Joanna).

1, 2, 3, 4... 107!

Wands and brash.

The winter polypore fungi.

In amongst the coppice stools (photo by Joanna).

Andrew takes his final photo of the session (photo by Joanna).



            

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