Abingdon Green Gym Blog

Thirteen Green Gymmers gathered on a bright, frosty morning for our session at Cothill Fen, the last one before our Christmas/New Year break. Our tasks were to rake and stack up cut vegetation from the fen and to cut up and stack felled trees under the direction of Judy Webb and Alison Muldal. The frost was sparkling on the fen and it was pretty cold but at least we could see where we had raked. We had to be careful where we trod as there was a thin crust of ice on the boggy areas. We worked hard and were glad when it was time for our break and we could warm up. At least it was better than working in the rain. After the break, some of us began the task of cutting up the felled branches. We were shadowed by two hungry robins. It was surprising to see two coexisting peacefully outside the nesting season. By this time we were all looking forward to making our way to the Merry Miller pub and our festive lunch. We were joined there by a few more Green Gymmers who had been unable or...

We were back at Boundary House Fen, Frilford Heath Golf Club for our penultimate session of the year, workin site supervisor Rod d'Ayala who directed our tasks. Essentially, we continued with raking the cut reeds from the fen.  In common with our session here back in October, we concentrated on transporting the reeds to the stream running through the centre of the area. Rod has added a number of dams to the stream to encourage the water to flood out onto the fen and improve the wetland habitat.  By piling the reeds into the stream between the dams, this exaggerates the effect. Similarly, there are two ponds bordering the fen and these were to be filled with reeds also. No sooner had we assembled and received instruction, before the fen claimed it's first casualty of the morning.  Michelle lost her footing beside the stream and got a soaking.  A volunteer down, we continued on, but not without further incident....

Back in February 2016, we made our first visit to Sunningwell to assist some of the locals to plant a hedge on the green.  The green had recently been saved from possible development and since then has been bought by a group of the villagers to ensure that it remains as a valuable community asset. We returned for a second session this weekend to continue with the hedge planting - essentially to extend it in a line from the where we left off last time, down the slope, towards the main road. Having parked our cars outside the village hall, we met with Bob Evans who lives opposite the green and who was again supervising our work here.  After being briefed in his front garden, the fifteen or so Green Gymmers and a few Sunningwell residents began work. The first task was to clear away some overgrown vegetation in the area with slashers and rakes.  Next, a line was established with some string to define where the tree whips were to be planted, with canes put in...

Because of the closure of the footbridge at St Helen's Wharf, the venue for our planned session for work at the Town end of the Ock River Path was changed to the Tesco end, as parking was easier for everyone.  Sally was our leader for the session and the tasks were to collect litter, clear nettles from the footpaths and generally tidy up. The weather was fine, if dull, to start with and we all got to work, as there was a lot of litter to pick. We made our way to our normal base area in the wood, while Matt and Colin put our signpost and leaflet holder up. Michele, Graham and Colin set to work by sweeping up fallen leaves from the bridge over the Ock so that it was less slippery underfoot and generally cleared the paths of leaf litter.  Matt slashed away nettles from the sides of the path, while Janet, Rosie and Sally collected litter.  The new handihoops for our litter bags made this task a lot easier.  Dieuwke joined us a little later and she and Colin also j...