Cothill Fen, Saturday 5th of November 2022

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 This week's blog post was written by the wonderful Kevin T!: 

The Abingdon Green Gym have been going to Cothill Fen for a least a dozen years which is when I started, and is a popular site, although many a member have got a boot full of muddy water (me included) from the swampy parts of the Fen!


Stef Wilson from Natural England was there to instruct us on the morning's tasks, which were mainly to move the cut reeds onto the causeways/dams to filter the water coming off the farmland and streams. Reed raking and cutting is one of the AGG's regular jobs on any of the fens we work on, so everybody knew what was required. The rain held off making the job reasonably pleasant, and we spread ourselves out on each side of the pond dragging or pitch forking the reeds where needed. We had one scyther keeping us going and a couple of us lopping the new growth of alder that had sprung up this summer.

It was quite a strenuous work. There was also a requirement to assemble the floating pontoon which was needed when scything the reeds in the deeper areas of the pond.


Tea break was a welcome rest and refresh ourselves, with Stef giving us an update on the Fen. 
There were signs (we had to make sure we didn't put our boots in their deposits) that the Fen ponies were still there, but I think they kept away from the activities going on. 





Danger! Abingdon Green Gym! 



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