Abingdon Green Gym Blog

Blog post by Sally, Photos by Sally and JimB  For our penultimate session of 2023, we returned to Boundary House Fen on Frilford Heath Golf Course SSSI to continue with the cut and rake on 23 December and we had a glorious morning for it with plenty of sunshine and clear blue skies. Four of us met in the greenkeepers' compound and made our way to the Fen where we were met by Rod d'Ayala and then later joined by Barbara, who had cycled from Abingdon. Rod gave us our instructions.  Alison and Sally were asked to clear the area to the left hand side of the stream (which is acting as a ditch, draining the fen) and were later joined by Barbara, whilst Jim was asked to cut the area of tall reed that was being overtaken by bramble around the perimeter next to the Boundary House itself. We had to take care to avoid cutting a tussock-forming grass, identified by its keel where the leaves emerge from their stem. These tussocks create microhabitats for small invertebrates and plants.

 Blog by Eleanor, photos by Sally Only six of us turned up for a 10 a.m. start at Dry Sandford Pit. The other Green Gymmers, we assumed, were resting and preparing themselves for the Christmas lunch later in the day. Our task was to clear scrub and sprouting willow and alder from the fen if it was not too wet, or to clear scrub from in front of the cliff faces. We found that the fen was not too wet so we decided to work there. On our way, we saw that quite a bit of the first cliff had crumbled. When we got down into the fen, having made a gap in the dead hedge barrier, it looked at first as if there wasn't much to do, but once we were among the reeds, we saw that there was plenty to cut back. We piled it up near the dead hedge ready to mend the gap when we had finished. Sally pointed out some " cigar galls" on some reeds. This is where a gall wasp has laid its eggs inside the reed, causing a cigar shaped swelling. Adrian also saw signs of the presence of water voles. We c

On Saturday, 9 December, 13 Green Gymmers went to the Riding for the Disabled in Southmoor to help clear vegetation from the stream in an effort to prevent it from flooding.  The late Janet Dale used to volunteer for the RDA, which is how we were introduced and the last time we visited, we planted a willow tree in Janet's memory along the stream.  Lesley continues to volunteer with the RDA so it felt good to return to this special place.  Eleanor was our leader and after assembling in the car park those who wished to don waders did so, whereas the rest of us trusted that our wellies would be up to the task.  Although the skies were grey, the heavy rain that had been forecast in the morning had fizzled out by the time we arrived on site and we enjoyed a very pleasant morning. We had to negotiate an electric fence (which had been turned off!) and we were able to free one of the wires so that we could scythe and cut without being hampered.  Jim, Barbara and Sally tried scything the fa

On three successive Tuesdays in November, Abingdon Green Gym and friends (12 in total) completed the autumn cut and rake of Two Pines Fen, which is a calcareous (or alkaline) fen situated between the red and green courses of Frilford Heath Golf Course.  The cut and rake is to mimic the action of herbivores and allow light for seeds to germinate and prevent the build up of nutrients in the peat, as the calcareous fen specialist flora do not thrive in rich peat.  Because of its location, we can only visit it midweek as it involves either the closure of a hole or the moving of a tee to avoid the risk of volunteers being hit by a stray golf ball - and, judging by the number of balls we found whilst working on the fen, the risk of this would have been quite high!  We donned our hi-viz jackets and each day made our way from the compound car park along the track to the fen.  Luckily, we are hardy souls so we had all brought waterproofs for when it rained, but the joy of seeing the fen in the