Abingdon Green Gym Blog

Todays blog was written by Eleanor D This was a new site for us. We had come to Sandford-on-Thames at the request of Peter Addyman, Chairman of the Parish Council. They are planning a community orchard next to the village hall and we were there to plant a hedge along the new boundary fence. It was a cold, frosty day with a lingering fog, which didn’t lift all morning. Despite this, fifteen hardy Green Gymmers turned out to tackle the task. The site had been well prepared, marked out in 10 metre sections with 700 plants consisting of hawthorn, hazel, blackthorn, dogwood and dog rose, 70 for each section. We were afraid that the ground might prove too frozen to get a spade in, but apart from a section at the top end, we managed it with some vigorous digging. Working in pairs, we planted the whips in a zig zag pattern and supported them with canes and protective plastic tubes. We warmed up with our hot drinks during the break and then set to work again. We were pleased with what w...

This Saturday we were back at Jarn Heath on Boars  Hill to continue the task of opening up areas of woodland to make glades. This would let the sunlight in and encourage flowers to grow, and hopefully to make a habitat for brown hairstreak butterflies. The morning started wet and windy but the rain eased off. However, we were surprised by a sudden shower, which fortunately didn’t last long. We needed to clear a lot of brambles, so the scythers set to work on these. Some of us  picked up fallen branches and dead wood and stacked them round the edge of the glade. The cut brambles were laid on top to form a barrier. After the break there was more work to do. Some people went to cut down dogwood and some of us began raking up leaf litter, especially around the trees and piled them on top of the barriers. It will be interesting to see what plants sprout up now that there will be more sunlight. The raking proved popular with the local robin and we also saw a tiny shrew divin...