Abbey Fishponds, 2nd November 2013

By Andrew -
Following our stall at the Abingdon Eco Fair last Saturday, it was back to work this week at one of our most familiar haunts, Abbey Fishponds.  As usual, site warden Marjorie White was on hand to supervise our activities, ably assisted by regular fishponds volunteer, Pete.  We assembled as usual at the top of Hadland Road and we were pleased to welcome a new volunteer, Georgina, who had discovered us at the Eco Fair.

 An eclectic range of tasks were on offer as usual, with various groups dispatched across the site and engaged in tree clearance, path-laying and maintenance, general tidying-up and litter-picking.  The storms of the previous weekend had caused some tree damage and with the recent wet weather, the main path through the site had become somewhat waterlogged.

Booted and suitably attired, we set about distributing a quantity of woodchip via wheelbarrow, from a pile at the Hadland Road end to the most worn and muddied sections of path while clearance of tree obstructions were dealt with.  Pete supervised the re-routing of a section of path at the Southern end of the site which can become notoriously unpassable in winter due to the damp ground and our hard-working and often unsung litter-picking heroes did their thing.

 The weather was fortunately kind to us, with bright sunshine and mild temperatures helping our cause, although the wind did pick up towards the end of the session and some spots of rain were detected.

 The site is popular with local dog-walkers and leisure seekers and our work at Abbey Fishponds is highly visible. As usual, we received much positive feedback from the public throughout the morning.  It is always good to know that our work is perceived as being worthwhile to the local community!  
-Andrew
Dieuwke and Sally get shovelling

re-layed section of woodchip path over muddy area

raking the woodchip

a trio of wheelbarrows

Andrew with shovel and wheelbarrow of woodchip

Pete instructs James and Georgina

Robert with cut tree branch as Kate looks on

Marjorie and James talk tactics at break time

taking a break

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