Jarn Mound and Wild Garden, 1st May 2021

By Andrew -

We met at Jarn Mound and Wild Garden on a sunny May Day morning for a session with the Oxford Preservation Trust under the supervision of land officer, Lindsay Priddle and Green Gym session leader, Kevin.

In common with other recent sessions, we were limited to teams of six, though we were able to field three separate teams given the large area in which we were working and the different tasks that we on offer.

Team one took up their bow-saws and loppers and cut up some fallen tree branches from a nearby field, ready for stacking by the boundary fence.

The second team were instructed to cut back vegetation from a strip approximately two metres wide from either side of the steps going up the mound itself. The cuttings would then be gathered and stacked in a habitat pile behind and at the base of the mound.

The remaining team took a walk up to the Ridgeway Road and carried out some maintenance on the verges there.

Other tasks were also to be carried out, which included a quick litter pick - including the many cans and bottles that had been deposited on the roof of the garden shelter. Also the clearing and scrubbing of the steps and the benches within the garden.

Many hands made light work and we completed each of the assigned tasks. It was great to see the area looking much improved at the end of the session and we look forward to returning to Boars Hill in a couple of weeks to return to another of our regular sites - Abrahams Wood.

-Andrew


The tree group get started.

Sawing and lopping.

Forget-me-nots.

The mound before work begins.

Lesley and Barbara transport cuttings down the steps of the mound.

Carolyn ready to collect the cuttings.

James puts the cuttings in a bag, ready to take to the habitat pile.

Bluebells.

Jarn Mound at the end of the session.

The newly-scrubbed steps.

In the wild garden.

The result of the litter-pick.


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