Boundary House Fen, Saturday 26th February 2023

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This weeks' blog was written by Eleanor D

Once again we were at Boundary House Fen, continuing the work of reed cutting and stacking. We were joined by new member, Harry, who is hoping to go into environmental conservation work and who reduced the average age of our group by a few years!

It was a fine, sunny day but with a chilly wind as we headed for the fen. One task was to rake up the brambles in the lightly wooded area just above the fen itself. There were some old heaps and Jim was already busy scything the remaining ones. Dieuwke and I set to work raking and stacking them on top of an existing heap of reeds around a tree. The others went on to the fen, the scythers doing to remaining reed cutting and the others raking, stacking and filling the stream in order to spread out the water.

During the break we watched a pair of mallards, who had made themselves at  home on the fen. Then it was back to work, with me opting for the gentler task of scattering the seeds of Marsh Lousewort, which we had brought over from the other side of the stream. This is a hemi parasitic plant, also known as red rattle, which parasitizes sedges and rushes. It has become very rare in Oxfordshire.

By the end of the morning all the reeds had been stacked and the Green Gymmers were weary, but we had made a considerable difference and now the flora of this calcareous fen will get a chance to come through.

As the work was finished, it was decided not to come back next week but to go to Boars Hill instead.




Mr & Mrs Mallard inspect the works






moving a big load

raking and stacking




tea break 

a job well done




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