Jarn Heath, Boars Hill - Saturday 13th April 2024

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 Blog by Eleanor, photos by Sally, Kevin and Eleanor

There was a good attendance at this session on a very welcome warm, sunny day.  As well as Green Gymmers, there were two Oxford Preservation Trust volunteers, Pasindu and Peter, who have worked with us at Boars Hill before.

We were working in the woods, where our tasks were to cut back bramble in the glades and to cut back holly at the far end. The ground was extremely muddy after the wet Winter, particularly around the entrances to the woods, so another task was to lay small logs over the mud to make a dry surface. 

Sally set to work scything in the glade, Kevin, James, Graham, Pasindu and Peter went to cut logs and lay them at the entrance opposite Jarn Mound and the rest of us went to cut holly, negotiating another very muddy area.

Sally pointed out some bluebells in the glade where she was scything, which we had not seen in previous seasons. This shows the value of making glades in the woods so the sunlight can get through. There was an abundance of ladybirds sunning themselves and brimstone and peacock butterflies. We also spotted two wrens and found a small nest in a tree (no eggs), which could possibly have been a wrens' nest.

After the break we returned to our tasks, raking up the scythed vegetation and putting it on the existing dead hedges, and soon it was  time to stop cutting the holly and clear everything to the habitat piles. The logging team had made a really good job of the entrance gate and had cut and carried logs to the other muddy entrance by the corner of the field, ready to use them another time. We were delighted to walk on the newly laid logs as we made our way out with our tools.


Sally scything







Holly clearing, Jan and Barbara




Roger and holly heap





Graham, Carolyn, Joan





Mud





Entrance half done





The glade





Bluebells in the glade




Well earned tea break




Shield bug on forget-me-not leaf




By the finished entrance

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