Abingdon Green Gym Blog

 Blog by Eleanor, photos by Sally, Kevin and Eleanor Thirteen of us met by the bridge over the weir, where the Ock joins the Thames, on a lovely sunny day. Our main task was to spread woodchip on the path which curves away from the main footpath and rejoins it later on. This is a task we do every year in Spring when the risk of flooding is past. Unfortunately, this year, we found that the council had only left us one fairly small heap, barely enough to cover a quarter of the path. However, Green Gymmers are not easily defeated, and we had noticed that there was some woodchip spread out by the path and within the wooded area where previous tree work had been done by contractors, so, while a group tackled the meagre heap Kevin set off to start raking the spread out woodchip into heaps, ready for shovelling, barrowing and spreading. Ready for work Adrian and Carolyn path laying Spreading the woodchip Raking Another task was litter picking. AbiBinit had organised a big litter pick all ...

  Ten Green Gymmers met at the entrance to Lashford Lane Reserve on this lovely sunny day. The Sandford Brook flows through the reserve, which is managed by BBOWT. We made our encampment in the meadow next to the fen.  One task was to dig up sprouting hawthorn in the meadow area. David and Susan stayed to do this. The rest of us made our way down to the fen. We had to pick our way carefully, as much of it was very soggy, but, after all, it is a fen.  The vegetation we had to scythe Moving it on to a heap There was a very big fallen willow on the other side of the brook. We had been asked to cut off the smaller branches and pile them along the fence line as a dead hedge. BBOWT will send in a chain saw in the next few days to cut up the rest. Lesley, Rosie and Eleanor volunteered to do this. It was tricky finding a suitable place to cross the brook where we wouldn't sink in.   Lesley & Rosie Adrian & Jim scything We all met back in the meadow for our break, the...

 Blog by Eleanor, photos by Eleanor, kind man on neighbouring stall and Neil Fawcett This was the day of the Abingdon Clubs and Societies Fair, so we did not have the usual outdoor session. The Abingdon Green Gym stall was placed in the Old Magistrates Court in the Guildhall a location which we shared with Lacemakers, Silversmiths, Musicians, the Tennis Club, Morris Minor fans, Public Speakers, Chiropractors and Scottish Dancers. There was even Pranic healing in the gallery, which couldn't have been very peaceful, but many people took advantage of it. Other locations for stalls included the Roysse Room, St Nicolas Church, the Market Place and the Community Shop. Dieuwke and I set up our display, and our neighbouring stallholder took a photo of us. Stallholders The morning started quietly and we were able to take turns to visit other stalls, greet old friends manning them and Dieuwke even took the opportunity to be pranicly healed.  More people began to arrive, and we gave out ...

Blog by Sally.  Photos by Eleanor, James, Julio and Sally On a fine Easter Saturday morning, we returned to Boundary House Fen on Frilford Heath Golf Course to continue with the cut and rake of the Fen.  We were led by Barbara and Dieuwke, two of our new leaders, who met us at the gate to the Greenkeepers' compound with all the tools that we would need for our session. We then made our way to our base where we met consultant ecologist, Rod d'Ayala, under whose direction we would be working.  We were last here on 14 February and we could see just how much the vegetation had grown. Boundary House Fen before work began Rod briefs the group on the tasks The main focus of the session was to finish off raking the cut vegetation from our last session and continue scything the pond sedge and rush.  Raking is important to ensure that nutrients do not build up as much of the fen flora does not thrive in nutrient rich soils and also to allow light for the emerging vegetation to...

Blog by Sally.  Photos by Carol, Julio, Margaret and Sally Twelve Green Gymmers turned out on a sunny spring morning to meet Stephanie Wilson from Natural England at Cothill School car park, where we were able to load our tools onto the back of Steph's van and make our way along String Lane, an old drover's road, to Cothill Fen, where Steph briefed us on the tasks for our session.  The Fen is owned by Natural England and sits adjacent to Parsonage Moor, which is owned by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (or BBOWT). Cothill Fen is one of the rare alkaline fens where specialist flora and fauna have evolved over millenia to adapt to the slightly less acidic conditions than are found on normal fens.  The spring water that feeds Cothill (and other alkaline or calcareous fens) percolates through a layer of chalk.  Sometimes, the chalk calcifies on the surface to form tufa, which is a bit similar to the limescale that builds up in our kettles. T...