Southern Town Park, Saturday 21st of August 2022

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This week's blog post was written by blogger of brilliance, Eleanor D.!: 

There was a change of venue for this session. It was on the programme as Barton Fields hay raking but the meadow had not yet been cut. However, there was work to be done on the wild flower patch in South Town Park, so we went there instead.

At the end of a very dry Summer the wild flower patch needed to be cut down and raked. There was also, as usual in this area, plenty of litter to clear.


Sally set to work with her scythe and soon there  was plenty of dry vegetation  to be raked up. Some people cut back encroaching brambles while others uprooted nettles with mini mattocks and garden forks. There was a nasty surprise for the litter picking volunteers as the picnic area where we made our base camp was strewn with little metal nitrous oxide ampoules and some larger canisters of this gas. This picnic table is a popular partying place for such activities but these nitrous oxide containers are used in catering for whipping cream and there is nothing illegal about their use.


Having cleared these up, the litter pickers spread out to the rest of the park. At tea break time we celebrated James’s birthday with cakes. As I myself know, from last week at Boundary House Fen, the best way to celebrate one’s birthday is a morning of hard work with Green Gym. We went back to work rather reluctantly, but there was still quite a lot to be done. At last the wild flower patch was quite well raked and the area much clearer so we set off back to the car park.


The Birthday Boy!

Reclining and relaxing in the middle of a hard morning's work

Sally sorting out the wild flower patch 

Look at all those blackberries!

The team hard at work! 




Nitrogen oxide canisters left all over the public bench (NOT used by AGG members, I hasten to add!)

A papery wasps nest

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