Abraham Wood, Boars Hill, Saturday 27th May

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 this weeks' blog was written by Eleanor D

It was a beautiful, sunny day when a large group of Green Gymmers gathered at Boars Hill to work on the Old Berkeley Golf Course and in adjacent Abraham Wood. The meadow was covered with buttercups an the hawthorn trees were still in bloom.

There were two locations for the tasks, one, to scythe and clear the rushes from the watercourse to make space for the ivy leaf crowfoot and the other, to go into Abraham Wood, dig up bamboo at the top end and to cut sprouting laurel. Abraham Wood used to be a private garden with laurel and bamboo and the aim is to return it to natural woodland. The bluebells were over and a lot of orange balsam was appearing.

There wasn’t much bamboo left, as we had successfully removed it a few years previously and dug a trench around it to prevent the roots from spreading. There was laurel sprouting from the old underground roots, so we set to work on that, putting the cut material on the existing brash piles.

We had our tea break out in the meadow. Carolyn had made cakes to mark Graham’s birthday and we gave him cards. Then it was back to work for the rest of the morning.

Old Berkeley Golf Course and Abraham Wood, with their contrasting habitats are great places to walk and enjoy the natural world.

clearing up felled laurel in the woods



walking from the wood to go for tea break in the sunshine!


tea break - with cakes (!) - as we celebrated Grahams upcoming birthday


pulling up some of the balsam 




good stuff happening in the watercourse




the walk back after the end of the activity












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