Boundary House Fen, 12th June 2021

By Andrew -

Another bright sunny Saturday - perfect for a green gym session! We met at the golf club, eighteen-strong. Here we were 'checked-in' by an official with a tablet outside the club house and then directed to a spot on the grass at the far end of the car park. Once fully assembled, we headed off to the ground keeper's compound just along the road. Unfortunately the gate was padlocked and the code that had been given didn't appear to work. Adrian and Alison were the first on the scene and Alison made a phone call in order to retrieve the correct code and we were on our way.

A quick opening address by Andrew later and we gathered our tools and headed across the fairways to our work site at Boundary House Fen. Here we were met by site warden (for want of a better term!) Rod d'Ayala and also volunteer Eleanor B, who lives locally and was able to walk to site. There was no easy path across the fen, with the reeds having grown up considerably since our last visit.

Rod outlined the jobs to be done which included raking up cut reeds an adding them to pre-existing piles or to the pond or stream. For the two scythers amongst us (Adrian and Alison), there were areas along the stream to be scythed, also there was some work to be carried out to the recently-dug leat that serves to divert the course of the stream and irrigate the fen.

It was already after 10am by the time we had arrived and got going, but due to our considerable number, we were able to make good progress. Most of the raking on one side of the site was complete by break time and the scything and digging teams were getting on well.

A number of wildflowers were in abundance including orchids, ragged robin, foxglove and comfrey. A newt was spotted and saved from the scythe while many damselflies and dragonflies were observed including broad-bodied chasers.

A successful and enjoyable session all-in-all and a great time to visit the fen to enjoy the flora and fauna that it supports.

All that was left was the return journey across the busy golf course and the inevitable pausing for golfers to tee-off and take their shots along the way!

-Andrew


Rod instructs the group upon arrival.

Roger, Nathan and James on leat maintenance detail.

The water re-distibution channel.


A bee on a dog rose.

Break time.

Rosie pitchforking reeds.

Adrian and Alison with their scythes.

A newt saved from the scythe!

Common spotted orchid.

Ursula, James, Dieuwke and Janet take a break.

Boundary House Fen.

Margaret's special-edition 'I ♥ falling over backwards' shirt! 

Comfrey.

Ragged Robin.



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

Ock Valley Walk, Town End, 22nd June 2013

By Andrew -
Image
Quite a small group gathered for this session and the weather didn't look promising. However, we were pleased to welcome a new member, Laura. We set off for the woodchip path,where we made our encampment. The nettles had grown high and dense since our previous visit, almost concealing the young trees, compising beech, oak, silver birch, cherry and rowan, which we had planted as whips almost two and a half years previously. One of our tasks was to clear the nettles and other vegetation immediately around them. As you can see from the photo of the young cherry, most of the trees are flourishing. Other tasks were to cut up and clear fallen branches into piles and the inevitable litter picking. There was a sharp shower shortly before 11 o'clock but it had stopped when we gathered for a welcome tea break. By the end of the morning we had finished clearing round the trees, tidied away the dead wood and picked up quite a respectable amount of litter, though I suspect t
Read more