Boundary House Fen - Saturday 25th November

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Blog by Kevin

The Abingdon Green Gym session this Saturday was on the Boundary House Fen, part of the Frilford Golf Course. The tasks were scything and raking across the fen. This is usually the main job when we are there.

With temperatures down to minus 2, we were keen to start the work in the sun and move with it as it crept across the fen.  Rod, who manages the site, has made great improvements to the place over the years by damming the water, which used to drain into a ditch running through the centre of the site, with cut reeds.  He has also dug irrigation channels around the edge of the fen for the water to spread out, keeping the ground wet and encouraging natural fenland plants to thrive.

It was a small group of six, plus Rod, who concentrated on clearing the reeds and bolstering the water channels with them, then topping up the filled ditch and a small pond.

Once we had moved the ready cut reeds, we moved to where our two scythers had accumulated rows of more cut reeds to be raked into piles, which will be moved later.

The sun shone throughout the morning, which helped to thaw the frosty ground, making the session an enjoyable one.

After a most needed coffee break we resumed our work, finishing off what was required of us for the morning tasks.

Frost on the fen.

Shifting cut reeds.

A robin looks on.

Raking


Working in the sunny spot.

More raking.

Fungus and moss

Frost on the reeds

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