Ock Valley Walk, Town End, 24th September 2016

By Andrew -
Saturday morning 24th September, Green Gym members arrive at the town end of the Ock Valley walk in Abingdon. A tree has been reported as fallen across a path and some of us are going to tackle it with hand saws in order to re-open the path. Kevin is leading, and we split into groups. As well as the tree, we will clear brush and encroaching growth from around the small trees we have planted over a period. Also there is litter-picking to be done. It is a beautiful autumn morning and a lot of the foliage is still very green and prolific. There is some Himalayan Balsam in flower, so we will see if we can discourage it!


The log is awkward to get at but Colin and Graham make a start. It’s going to be hard work. Things soon get warm enough for coats to come off.

Adrian deals with other parts of the fallen tree which get stacked nearby and could be handy habitats for wildlife.

Well, that’s the path open again! There’s still more cutting up of the fallen tree to do though.

Meanwhile, a major effort is in hand cutting and slashing encroaching growth around the small plantation of trees put in by Green Gym. Margaret is not playing golf – that’s a slasher!

More slashing by Dieuwke, Janet and Eleanor. That looks suspiciously like a piece of Himalayan Balsam.

Carolyn finds more....

Some breathing space cleared around a young tree which is now becoming well established within the surrounding wild plants.


-Barry

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pinkhill Meadow Nature Reserve, Farmoor Reservoir, 16th March 2019

By Andrew -
Image
Another week, another new site for the Abingdon Green Gym! We met at the car park at Farmoor Reservoir, a healthy turn out of 17 of us, including French father Sebastien, and his eleven-year old son, Maelo, who was joining us for a school project. The session was led by James under the instruction of Hanna Jenkins, the warden of Pinkhill Meadow Nature Reserve, so called because it is right on the banks of the River Thames, just near Pinkhill Lock. It was another blustery day. Will this crazy wind ever let up? We followed Hanna in convoy round the edge of the reservoir, which was choppy to say the least, and parked up on the other side where it was thankfully a little calmer, the high banks of the reservoir providing some shelter. Equipped with our tools, gloves and goggles, we made our way onto the spot on the nature reserve where we were to do our work. Hanna told us that the reserve had been formed in 1991, but some aspects had been neglected over the last ten years. The aim...
Read more

Kennington Memorial Field, 29th October 2016

By Andrew -
We have been working at Kennington Memorial Field for a number of years now, clearing scrub from the slopes so that the valley remains an area of grassland and wild flowers. This time Rachel from Oxford Preservation Trust was in charge and led us down to the lower end of the field, where we were to cut back the trees and bushes by several metres and burn the scrub on a bonfire. We were joined by some families with children of varying ages, the youngest only three, who had answered a local appeal for volunteers. We set to work and soon we had a bonfire going. Even the children who were too young to use loppers and saws joined in, carrying branches to the bonfire pile. Despite the drizzly weather they all worked cheerfully. At tea break time we enjoyed some delicious snacks that Rachel had brought and a tin of chocolates supplied by Michele. We found two old birds' nests in the course of the morning and cutting back the scrub revealed a log pile with a rabbit hole under...
Read more

Jarn Mound and Wild Garden, Boars Hill, 12th November 2016

By Andrew -
Image
Four weeks after our last session with the Oxford Preservation Trust at Boars Hill, we returned, albeit at Jarn Mound this time rather than the Elizabeth Daryush Garden; which had been our venue in October. We again met with  Rachel Sanderson of the trust, who along with our leader of the day, James, outlined the tasks for the morning.  Primarily, we were to clear the mound itself of scrub and tree saplings that had taken root there, with the intention of restoring it to its original state.  There were also some flatter areas of the garden that required clearing, for the less intrepid among us. Unfortunately, the day had begun a little on the inclement side.  Indeed as we arrived, the rain fell persisently, making many of us wonder if the session would go ahead at all!  But of course, the Green Gymmers are renowned for working whatever the weather, and the damp conditions did not deter us. A couple of problems were immediately evident due to the rain...
Read more