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Showing posts from March, 2018

Southern Town Park, 24th March 2018

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On Saturday we met at the Football Club car park, Lambrick Way, for another session at Southern Town Park.  The weather was dull but warmer than we have become accustomed to recently, with a slight drizzle.  Sally had received some wild flower seeds (see pictures) just in time from Kew Gardens with full instructions and labels, ready for planting.  This was going to be the main focus of the session. Other tasks included the usual litter picking and bramble bashing. The wild flower planters got down to it, literally on their hands and knees to clear away moss, grass and nettles, and also the odd hibernating grub (see photo) that were starting to retake the area from the flowers.  Meanwhile, another group started to clear a new area adjacent to the original bed for more flowers. Progress was slow but working close together meant that the conversation was flowing and the time zipped by. By refreshment break, Sally had come to the realisation that we would n...

New Programme for Spring 2018

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Our new programme for Spring 2018 has just been published.  See below, or click  HERE for a larger-print PDF file version (opens in new window).

Ock Valley Walk, Tesco End, 17th March 2018

Ten hardy Green Gymmers, well prepared to face the second attack of the “Beast from the East”, assembled for litter picking and clearing fallen branches. Unfortunately this blog doesn’t contain photos. It was far too cold even to think of photos and anyway, this would have involved removing gloves to press buttons. There was a lot of litter, which had accumulated since the last time we had been here last Autumn. There was a bitterly cold wind and occasional flurries of snow, but the snow had not yet settled and covered the litter. There were also many fallen branches to be cleared, brought down by the winter storms and snow falls. We were very glad of our mid morning break with cups of tea and coffee to warm us up and plenty of biscuits. We bravely carried on until almost 12:30pm, with branches cut up and put on piles and leaving about eight bags of rubbish and recycling by the roadside for the council contractors to pick up on Monday. A huge thank you to the Green Gymmers wh...

Two Pine Fen, Frilford Heath Golf Club, 13th March 2018

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Some hardy Green Gymmers, who couldn’t get enough of it on Saturdays, assembled for a session at Two Pine Fen on Frilford Golf Course. The task was to rake off the dead vegetation and thatch from the area, under the direction of Judy Webb, to allow the Spring and Summer flowers to come through. The reason that we have to do a midweek session here is that the area is in the range of flying golf balls so we have to come when it is not so busy and part of the course is closed for maintenance. Unfortunately, we aren’t able to come back and see the wild flowers, such as orchids, unless we take up golf. We found that the fen was wetter than in previous years, which is a good sign, though there were a lot more oak leaves to rake up, which must have blown over from a nearby wood. We piled the raked vegetation up near the stream that runs through the fen. Rod d’Ayala is going to dam the stream so the water can spread out on to the fen, and will use the raked material to fill the ch...

Abrahams Wood, Boars Hill, 10th March 2018

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After last Saturday’s session was cancelled due to the heavy snowfall, the Green Gym resumed their activities this week. We returned to Abrahams Wood, Boars Hill, to work with the Oxford Preservation Trust under the guidance of Rachel Sanderson. After gathering tools from (Green Gym session leader) Kevin's car, we began the fairly lengthy stroll down the hill from the parking spot to the lower gate of the wood.  Eleanor hung back for a while to wait for Margaret to appear and help her carry the all-important tea kit to the work site. Having assembled, Rachel ran through the morning's itinerary which was primarily to clear away fallen branches, and to continue removing laurel overgrowth.  Furthermore we were to rebuild some of the willow doughnuts that protect the hazel coppice stools in the wood from being attacked by deer.  Many of the fallen branches were in area where bluebells and other spring flowers bloom, thus adding a dash of urgency to the operation. We ...