Abingdon Green Gym Blog

 Blog by Eleanor.  Photos by Eleanor and Kevin There were only ten of us this session at Southern Town Park as the Atom Science Fair was on. Despite the cold start, it was a sunny day as we met in the car park at the Youth Football Club.  We made our way down to our wild flower patch at the southern end. There wasn't much to see at this time of year, but an early cowslip was in flower. Cowslip We had some weeding of nettles to do and some of us set to work on that while Carolyn, Graham and Kate set off to do some litter picking and Kevin went to clear twigs and branches off the western footpath. Carol clearing scrub We had brought a number of plug plants - violets, meadow cranesbill, dark mullein and betony, but decided to have our tea break first. Tea break We started on the planting, putting the violets near the front, then dug patches for the other plug plants, where nothing interesting appeared to be growing. Planting the plug plants Dieuwke planting wild flowers We a...

 Blog by Eleanor, photos by Julio and Margaret This was a special session, as we were celebrating the landmark birthdays of two of our volunteers, Lesley and Carolyn. However, there was work to do first. Map of the reserve and trail. We were welcomed by John Brimble, the landowner and power behind the development of the reserve and trail. John Brimble meets us in the car park There were two main tasks. The smaller task was to clear the area by the entrance to the trail, which is intended to become a wildflower area, so five people volunteered for that, while the rest of us made our way to the Dell, to clear around the fairly recently planted trees. The tree expert was waiting for us to explain how to clear a metre diameter round each tree, so it could be dressed with woodchip to suppress the weeds. Briefing in the Dell Trees to be cleared around The site has a herd of Dexter cattle. Dexters are one of the smallest breeds. They were once popular with smallhoders because of their siz...

Blog by Sally.  Photos by Julio, Margaret and Sally For the last session of our winter 2025/26 programme, we returned to Dry Sandford Pit Nature Reserve in Cothill, assembling in the car park, where Adrian, our session leader, met us all.  The Nature Reserve is owned and managed by the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust (or BBOWT) and provides a range of habitats for flora and fauna to thrive, including grassland, woodland, sandy cliffs and fen.  Adrian had been given a list of tasks from Beth of BBOWT for us to do.  The weather was mild and cloudy to start with, but the sun soon came out. Kevin and Simon were asked to return to the alkaline fen to finish off removing scrub (mainly willow) from an area which we were unable to complete last time.  If left unchecked, the willow would grow into large trees, not only crowding out the specialist fen flora, but also drying out the fen.   Adrian asked the remainder of the group to work on the grassland eith...