Abingdon Green Gym Blog

Once again, despite the weather during the week having been predominantly wet and miserable, Saturday turned out to be fine and sunny! Ten or so green-gymmers turned up to perform a variety of tasks at the Tesco end of the Ock path under the leadership of James this week. The tasks included litter picking (litter is frequently a problem in this area), clearing away overgrown vegetation around the edges of the paths and removing some tree branches again around the path margins. Good progress was made early on with all operations and by the tea break at 11am, there was not an awful lot left to do.   Following refreshments, tasks were swiftly completed and the group set about packing up, keen to make the most of the fine weather, and in the case of several of the volunteers, eager to visit the local excellence market in the town centre! -Andrew Refreshment time! Another fruitful litter pick Kevin removes a dead branch from a tree

Our session on 22nd September happened to be on the day of the autumn equinox, and despite it being bright and sunny, there certainly  was a distinct autumnal feeling in the air. The main task on this occasion was the re-laying of the woodchip path at the town end of the Ock Valley Walk.  The council had provided a pair of woodchip piles - one at either end of the path, and the group split into two teams, starting at either end and meeting in the middle. Wheelbarrows were filled with the woodchips and emptied at intervals along the path and then raked to form an even surface.  Those members not occupied with the path-making helped out by removing overgrown vegetation around the edges of the path and by litter-picking in the vicinity.   By tea-break at 11am, the team working closest to the town end had completed their section of path and so joined up with the others to work at the far end.  The work, especially for the wheelbarrow operators, was rather str...

Today was the second consecutive session at Southern Town Park. Due to the events of last week ruling out any pond digging on the adjacent allotments (see the blog entry for 8th September for details) , the volunteers once again set about tidying up overgrown vegetation.   Despite a beautiful autumnal morning, there was a very minimal turn-out - only four Green-Gymmers this time.  We focused on the Eastern edge of the park, adjacent to Peep-o-Day Lane where traditionally much bramble over-growth has been observed.   Indeed, once again, the areas around the perimeter fencing were in much need of tidying, and several trees required liberating from this persistent plant, lest they should become suffocated. Much care and attention was given to ensure that there was no disturbance to the local bird population of course. Loppers, rakes and pitchforks were the tools of the day. Firstly, cutting back brambles with the loppers, then raking them into piles and lastly using t...

The plan for this session was to split into two groups, one to continue digging the allotment pond, a project we had started in the early Spring, and the other to cut back overhanging brambles and litter pick in Southern Town Park. However, the pond diggers, equipped with wheelbarrow and spades, were halted by the allotment enforcer and told that further digging of the pond had been forbidden by the Town Council Amenities Committee. We had been caught in the crossfire of a deadly political dispute, something which is not meant to happen to Green Gymmers! We beat a hasty retreat and joined the other group, where there was plenty of work to do in cutting back brambles overhanging the fences and using the spades to clear moss and other vegetation from the edges of the tarmac path. It was too early to do any major scrub clearance, which should only be done between October and February, to avoid disturbing nesting birds and other wildlife.   The litter situation was not too bad. Perha...

A pleasant and crucially, rain-free Saturday morning was spent once again at Frilford Heath, our last session of the year at this particular site.  As usual for this location, Himalayan Balsam pulling was the order of the day. Approaching the site, it became clear to the seven volunteers that despite all the hard work put in during the year, the battle against the Balsam is far from won!  Large swathes of the plant still exist, to the detriment of the native species.  However, real signs of progress are also very apparent.   We concentrated our efforts at the far-end of the site, the same area that we have largely focused on during other, recent sessions.  With only a small group this time, only a limited area could be covered, but much effort was put in to ensure that the plant was cleared as far as possible at least in this particular spot.   The task was complicated by the fact that at this time of year, the Balsam has developed seeds.  These h...