Abingdon Green Gym Blog

For our final session of 2012  we returned to Cothill Fen.  As has been the case on many occasions this year, the heavy rain of the previous day had made way for bright sunshine as we assembled in the car park opposite the Merry Miller pub.  Here we met BBOWT site manager, Martyn Lane who outlined the morning's tasks.   We heard that earlier in the week, reeds had been cut and required raking, and some of the trees and shrubs encroaching upon the edge of the fen - mostly hazel and silver birch, required cutting back. A short walk along the lane to the site followed, carrying the tools, while negotiating all the mud and many puddles!  Upon arrival, we were shown the area that required raking and the volunteers split into several groups - either raking up and stacking the grass and reeds or cutting back the trees and saplings.  Due to the nature of the fen and because of all the recent rain, conditions underfoot were soggy to say the least.  Despit...

Ten Green Gymmers turned up to help with tasks at Abbey Fishponds. It was a bright, sunny morning and just a little warmer than in recent days. There was a variety of things to be done: cutting back vegetation along the north eastern boundary path, sawing up a fallen tree, reed raking after Marjorie had strimmed the reeds, litter picking and laying woodchip along the main path. The ground was very boggy after the heavy rain of two weeks ago so a lot of woodchip was needed and it had to be fetched quite a long way, from near the Radley Road gate. For this, we were very glad of Colin's trolley, with Victor, who has recently joined Green Gym, helping to shovel the woodchip and Sally raking it out. Dieuwke and later Eleanor raked up the cut reeds and piled them up out of sight of the main path. Next week will be our last session of 2012 and we look forward to a session at Cothill Fen and a celebration meal at the pub afterwards. -Eleanor  Victor and Colin tra...

Bramble bashing and a spot of litter picking at Southern Town Park were the order of the day for the ten volunteers that assembled at the football club car park, Lambrick Way.    Being the first day of December, the weather had taken a rather crisp and chilly turn.  The day had begun with a frost, but was thankfully dry.  Areas of Southern Town Park and the surrounding area were somewhat flooded from recent heavy rain, but the South-Eastern corner of the field where we concentrated our activities were dry underfoot. The group made their way to the work-site either on foot or by car, with the vehicles parked up in a lay-by in Peep-o-Day Lane so that we just had to transport the tools a short distance.   Upon arrival, it was apparent that the council had failed to collect the piles of green waste from our last session here at the end of October!  Hopefully they will soon be cleared, particularly as they are now somewhat larger than they were. Everyone...

Prior to this Saturday, our records suggest that all the green gym sessions o f the year had been dry aside from a single trip to Frilford Heath earlier in the year.  Not bad going at all considering the appalling weather that has largely blighted 2012! However, the rains came this time and rather made up for their previous absence. Upon arriving at Barton Fields, the bridge into the site from the Abbey Fields was found to be flooded along with the entire section of the Thames path along the length of the field.  The flood waters had in fact made their way to the edge of the wildflower meadow area and while fairly extreme at this time, the flood area continued expanding and caused some further issues in Abingdon later in the week. The rain was persistent during the session, but a good turn-out of almost 20 volunteers braved the conditions.  As well as the green gym group, there were several members of the Abingdon Naturalists' Society's Green Team present who look aft...

In a break from our usual activities, this Saturday we joined up with the Oxfordshire Geology Trust at Lye Hill Quarry, near Wheatley on the outskirts of Oxford.  Besides being a bus depot, this site is a geological SSSI and formerly an active limestone quarry. Upon arrival, the group assembled outside the entrance gate waiting for it to be opened by the security guard while acquainting ourselves with members of the Oxford Geology Trust, led by Lesley Dunlop.  Once inside we donned hard-hats and high-vis jackets and proceeded to the quarry face.  A short presentation was given about the importance of the site and how, aeons ago, the area was once a tropical sea.  Thus explaining the presence of shell fragments and other types of fossils found here. In order for further investigation of the exposed quarry faces to be possible, our task was to clear the vegetation beneath and upon the limestone.  Many saplings and brambles had taken root and required removal. ...

On another fine and mild Saturday morning, the Green Gym assembled at Berkeley Road, Boars Hill ready for a session in Abrahams Wood.  We were met by Andy Gunn, representing BBOWT who manage the site in partnership with the Oxford Preservation Trust.   We descended the Hill to the woods and Andy briefed us on the tasks that were to be undertaken this time. Following-on from the last outing here in mid-October, our main objectives were to continue with clearing the invasive/non-native laurel trees and shrubs, and to undertake hazel coppicing and snedding. Snedding is the process of removing or lopping the branches from the main stalk using a billhook.  The purpose of this was to prepare the hazel to be used for a hedging project at another Oxford Preservation Trust site nearby at Lincombe Lane, Boars Hill.  A total of thirteen volunteers split up into various groups to commence or indeed resume the tasks from a month ago.  The site was formerly pasture, bu...

On arrival at the Ock Walk, we found that the Town Council contractors had been busy chopping down willow trees close to the river bank, presumably because they were dangerous. They had left a terrible mess and the ground was churned up by tyres. Part of the woodchip path, which we had only repaired and relaid in September was also damaged. We can only hope that they are going to come back and clear up. Our task this week was to clear nettles and plant crocuses around the memorial tree and wood anemones, wild garlic and bluebells in some other cleared patches. The first part of the morning was spent slashing and uprooting nettles, which was hard work, but much appreciated by the local robin. At the tea break we enjoyed a delicious fruit cake, made by Dieuwke to celebrate one whole year at Green Gym. We then planted the bulbs and corms in the cleared patches and cleared leaves from around some trees so we could scatter bluebell seeds. Unlike the bulbs and corms, whic...

The green gym are back at the town end of the Ock Valley Walk this weekend, but here are a few photos from the last session there on 22nd September, when we re-laid a woodchip path. Photos taken by Margaret:    

This Saturday's session was in Southern Town Park, slashing the intractable brambles in the wooded areas on the eastern side by Peep o Day Lane. The day was fine and bright but very cold, the temperature having plummeted overnight. There was a good turn out, however, and we made our way across the rugby pitches towards the stile, only to find it had become very wobbly since our last visit and didn't seem to be attached to anything at all. We set to work cutting and slashing the brambles and there was plenty of litter to be picked up too. At tea break time, we had a nice surprise when Samantha arrived to pay us a visit with her baby, Charlotte. It just shows what Green Gym can do in terms of promoting health and well being! We set to work again attacking the brambles and pitchforking them to the roadside for collection along with several bags of rubbish and recycling. We had managed to make inroads into the brambles but there will be plenty more to tackle on our...