Hinksey Hill Nature reserve, Saturday 25th March

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This weeks' blog was written by Kevin 


It was a windy morning when 8 members met at the Hinksey Golf club carpark.

John the owner of the land was there, the area covers a golf club, nature reserve and veterinary practices.

The first job was try and block gaps in a copse that lines the south side of the golf course, made by walkers taking a short cut across the part of the course, which will become a problem as the course is being extended on the other side of the copse.

John had left some piles of cut branches and brambles for us to plug the gaps, hopefully it will deter future wanders onto the course, although there is always someone who thinks they have a right to go wherever they please.

The task completed with what we had available, we stop for refreshment and catch up. We noticed the the copse was populated by some big burrows and talking to John later he informed us that they have camera traps set up around and that there were 5 or 6 badger sets spread across the golf course and nature reserve.

He has been very diligent in getting the badgers vaccinated against TB, also he has had some volunteers make and erect wattle fencing around the side of the bottom lake with signs telling people why, to try and stop dogs going in, as it has been found that the flea treatment for dogs washes off into the water and is toxic to many insects.

The last job was to clear some dead scrub on the side of the access road to the golf course and piling it up to block another unauthorised track made by walkers.

John said the the trees that we planted on the nature reserve were flourishing and that he will be having a survey of the numbers and thinks there have been very little, if any, of the trees that didn't make it so far. 



fixing gaps in the edge of the copse

badger set hole

badger paw prints


clearing dead vegetation


tea time!

the after photo




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