Abingdon Green Gym Blog

Blog and photos by Sally 11 volunteers, including ecologist, Dr Judy Webb, returned to Frilford Heath Golf Course on Tuesday, 17 March in order to complete the cut and rake of the main area of Two Pines Fen, which is where a number of orchid species and other alkaline fen specialists plants thrive and to remove invasive scrub, which threatens to dry out the fen.  St Patrick must have been smiling on us as it was a glorious spring day.  With the variety of tasks on offer, we all had our hands full making our way to the fen from the Green Keepers Compound with the various tools needed.  We can only work on this Fen midweek when there are fewer golfers and maintenance work is being undertaken by the team. The Green Course was closed for maintenance, so Simon made his way to that side of the fen to tackle willow, using the tree popper and mattock to extricate them from the ground.  The hollows will form shall pools for insects to breed in and also for plants that prefer ...

 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...