Abingdon Green Gym Blog

At our Cothill Fen session we were joined by members of the 4 th  Abingdon Scouts, both boys and girls, with their leaders and some parent helpers. Sadly, the weather was not kind to us at first. After making our way along the footpath to the site, we had to shelter under a tree from the heavy rain. Fortunately, the rain eased off and Steph Wilson from Natural England briefed us on our tasks.   The Friday Cothill volunteers had done some scything of the reeds and we were asked to rake these up and put some on the reed causeway across the water and the rest into drag bags, which were then transported to the woodland on the other side of the boardwalk.   Some rotten fence posts needed to be replaced and Steph took a group of Scouts to be introduced to the art of bashing in new ones. Another task was to pull up nettles and one type of thistle and Margaret showed a group which to pull and which to leave. We all worked hard until break time, when Steph explained the importance...

Blog by Sally.  Photos by Julio, Margaret and Sally On a sunny May morning, we returned to one of our favourite sites, Sunningwell Village, near Abingdon.  We had perfect weather for working.  We assembled in the Village Hall car park where we met Bob Evans, who explained the tasks that he wanted us to do.  With sixteen of us, we were able to separate into those who wished to work in or around the village pond, and those who wanted to work on the village green. Waders were donned by those who were keen to clear the islands of vegetation as it had become so overgrown, you couldn't tell that there were two little islands in the middle.  We had been told to be mindful of any nesting birds and especially the mallards who had raised two broods already this year.  Other tasks around the pond involved cutting back vegetation from the pathway at the back and around the spring that feeds the pond, as well as some of the trees, including a lovely guelder rose that ha...