Jarn Mound and Wild Garden, 1st May 2021

By Andrew -

We met at Jarn Mound and Wild Garden on a sunny May Day morning for a session with the Oxford Preservation Trust under the supervision of land officer, Lindsay Priddle and Green Gym session leader, Kevin.

In common with other recent sessions, we were limited to teams of six, though we were able to field three separate teams given the large area in which we were working and the different tasks that we on offer.

Team one took up their bow-saws and loppers and cut up some fallen tree branches from a nearby field, ready for stacking by the boundary fence.

The second team were instructed to cut back vegetation from a strip approximately two metres wide from either side of the steps going up the mound itself. The cuttings would then be gathered and stacked in a habitat pile behind and at the base of the mound.

The remaining team took a walk up to the Ridgeway Road and carried out some maintenance on the verges there.

Other tasks were also to be carried out, which included a quick litter pick - including the many cans and bottles that had been deposited on the roof of the garden shelter. Also the clearing and scrubbing of the steps and the benches within the garden.

Many hands made light work and we completed each of the assigned tasks. It was great to see the area looking much improved at the end of the session and we look forward to returning to Boars Hill in a couple of weeks to return to another of our regular sites - Abrahams Wood.

-Andrew


The tree group get started.

Sawing and lopping.

Forget-me-nots.

The mound before work begins.

Lesley and Barbara transport cuttings down the steps of the mound.

Carolyn ready to collect the cuttings.

James puts the cuttings in a bag, ready to take to the habitat pile.

Bluebells.

Jarn Mound at the end of the session.

The newly-scrubbed steps.

In the wild garden.

The result of the litter-pick.


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