Abingdon Green Gym Blog

 Blog by Eleanor, photos by Julio, Michele and Eleanor This was our twice yearly visit, once in Autumn and once in Spring, to Southern Town Park, where we have a wild flower patch. It was also the day of the Science Fair in the market place and, as some of our volunteers were helping with that, it was good to have twelve of us turning out for the Green Gym session. We met in the Youth Football Club car park in Lambrick Way, which was packed with vehicles as there was a big tournament going on, and made our way around the pitches to our site at the far end of the park. The weather was quite sunny, though with a brisk, chilly wind. We were joined by one new volunteer, and as we started work, a passer by stopped and said he would like to join us at a future session, which was very encouraging. Our tasks were to plant primrose plugs and violets at the front around the sign and to dig patches to sow annual seeds. We had cornfield mixtures plus borage, centaury and fumitory. The site wit...

 Blog by Eleanor, photos by Julio and Henry It was a bright, sunny day and very warm for March when we met in the car park. We made our way to the board walk on the far side of the fen, where Steph from Natural England briefed us on the tasks. The entrance gate The Fen Steph gives us our instructions There was scything of  the grass to do, raking and carrying the grass to the causeways and to repair and build up the "fish scales" at the edge of the fen. These are scallop shapes at the edge of the fen, which trap the water to make shallower pools. There was also alder at the edge of the wood, which needed to be cut back to prevent it from encroaching on the fen. So we set to work. Carolyn raking   Susan pitchforking   Helen and Henry carrying a load Steph and Kevin raking on to the fish scales When it was time for tea break, we sat on the edge of the board walk enjoying the warm sunshine. Tea break - Kevin, Carolyn, Jan and Steph One of the tasks after the break was t...

Blog by Sally, photos by Sally and Eleanor We enjoyed a glorious day of sunshine on Saturday, 1 March - the first day of our spring 2025 programme also marked the first day of meteorological spring and St David's Day.  Our programmed session found us at Frilford Heath Golf Course, itself a site of special scientific interest due to its complex geology, which has formed calcareous fen and heathland, and consequently for the specialist flora and fauna which thrive in these different conditions. 7 Green Gymmers turned out - a much lower number than in recent weeks, due partly to the clash with Clubs & Societies Day (and not being able to be in two places at once!) and also people being away.  It was rather a frosty start, but the sun soon burned it off.  We split into two groups, with two trained scythers (Jim and Denis) working with consultant ecologist, Rod d'Ayala, on Boundary House Fen, and 5 people working with Dr Judy Webb on an area where the Maiden Pink ( Dianthu...