Abingdon Green Gym Blog

The location and its habitats   Fifteen Green Gymmers met in the Cothill car park for our session at Parsonage Moor, which is next to Cothill Fen but looked after by BBOWT, whereas Natural England is in charge of Cothill Fen. Meeting and briefing with Adrian It was grey and slightly drizzly as we set off along the track with our tools. After going through the gate we walked along the boardwalk until we found a suitable place for our encampment.  There was plenty of evidence of the ponies, which are grazed here for part of the year. Gardeners and allotmenteers should have brought a sack for some free manure. Adrian, our session leader, briefed us on the tasks. There was scything and raking to be done and sprouting trees and bushes to be cut down. This is necessary to preserve the fen habitat. We left the boardwalk and made our way across the soggy fen to the far side. The scythers set to work, while the rest of us began lopping, sawing, raking and carrying to the heaps. We...

Blog by Sally.  Photos by Julio and Sally On a very bright, sunny morning, we returned to Lincombe Lane Field, which is one of the Boars Hill sites owned and managed by Oxford Preservation Trust.  This was our third visit to the site and it is great to see the progress being made in restoring the fen area as well as improving the grassland, which is grazed by a few ponies. Jim making a new friend! We met consultant ecologist, Rod d'Ayala, and his colleague, Steve Gregory, on site.  Altogether, there were 19 of us, including local residents, Rebecca and her daughter, Eva.  The ponies were fenced off so that they could be kept safely away from our tools. The field was looking green after a smattering of rain, following four or five heatwaves over the summer months. Rod briefs the group.   Looking down to the area of fen that we would be working on There were a number of tasks for us to do, including removing pendulous sedge, which although a native wet woodla...