Boundary House Fen, Saturday 19th of November, 2022

By -

This week's blog post is a joint effort from the dazzling Eleanor D. and the chivalrous Kevin T.:

This Saturday saw us once again at Boundary House Fen working under the direction of Rod d’Ayala. Kevin, the session leader drove along the road and parked next to the fen, which saved us having to carry the tools from the greenkeeper’s compound. It was a lovely, sunny morning, which made all the difference. The scythers set to work cutting the reeds, as directed by Rod while the rest of us raked them up or moved the existing heaps on drag sheets to the pond and the stream. Meanwhile, Jim had already started work scything the vegetation on the bank above the fen. We had four scythers in total to make a concerted effort - the ground was very muddy with the heavy rain making it a bit tricky moving the cut reeds, but we seemed to establish a system of going in teams for best effect! At tea break time, Michele, who had been delayed by a malfunctioning central heating boiler, arrived with a promised chocolate biscuit cake, which was much appreciated.

    After the break we continued the raking and reed transportation, while some of us went up on to the bank to rake up Jim’s scythings and pile them up, watched by an impatient robin, keen to dive down and feast on creepy crawlies we had uncovered. By the end of the morning, no less than three people had managed to step in a hole deep enough to send water over the top of their wellies, but that’s one of the hazards of working here. One casualty from the quagmire was Carolyn, who sank to her knees and had to be hauled out and wellies drained - thankfully Sally had some spare socks and towel for such an occasion for Carolyn to carry on! There is still more work to be done and we will be back again in December (hopefully with drier feet!)



Autumn colours 


Rosie v reeds: the final showdown

The glorious team! 

Refreshment break


Scythers at work


Carolyn after her dip!

Getting it done 


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