Abingdon Green Gym Blog

Our main task today was to cut down the wild flower meadow, as it was the end of Summer and most of the flowers had shed their seeds. We met in the Youth Football Cub car park and made our way across the football pitches to the southern end of the park. The weather was fine and sunny but we were a little concerned by the forecast of late morning rain. Sally and Adrian set to work with their scythes. There was also litter picking to do and some Green Gymmers kindly volunteered for that task. The rest of us began raking up and transporting the vegetation to heaps under the trees. We decided to leave a small patch of corn marigold and another patch of flowers that were still in bloom. By break time, the scything of the wild flower patch was nearly done and we decided to attack some brambles on either side. We enjoyed our break, taking advantage of the nearby table and benches. The litter picking was also almost finished. In Summer, of course, some of the litter is concealed by vegetatio

This week's blog was written by Sally. This week, Abingdon Green Gym were at Jarn Mound on Boars Hill, which is owned by the Oxford Preservation Trust.  The Mound is a man-made creation - the vision of renowned archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans, who created Jarn Garden and wanted a view point of the dreaming spires of Oxford over Jarn Heath.  In the intervening years, many trees have grown up which now obscure views of the Oxford skyline, but it is still worth the climb!  Evans originally planted the slopes of the Mound with various heathers and it is hoped that it will be possible to recreate this by planting native varieties of heather in the future - it should look quite a sight in full bloom!  This is the second year that the slopes have been cleared of bracken and bramble. Nine Green Gymmers, including new member, Jan, were joined by Peter, one of the OPT volunteers.  We were working under the direction of Rod d'Ayala, the consultant ecologist for OPT, and had been tasked wit

This week's blog was written by Eleanor                                                                                                                                                                    The weather was grey and not very promising as we trekked along beside the golf course to the fen. Adrian and Helen were waiting with the tools and Rod d'Ayala briefed us on  the tasks. Wetlands such as this fen are vital habitats and it is important to restore and conserve them.  Margaret, Barbara and Jim went off to scythe while the rest of us raked up reeds and grass and transported them to the causeway at the edge of the fen or to the stream. Rod pointed out a wasps' nest in the undergrowth, so we had to be careful. We worked hard and were glad when it was time for our tea break. Two of us, Ursula and Eleanor, had a birthday the following day and Ursula had made a carrot cake, which was greatly appreciated. The rain began to fall in earnest, but fortunately we had made o

 This weeks' blog was written by Eleanor D Well, the forecast was for rain, and that's what we got! Eight hardy volunteers met by the bridge behind St Helen's Court and made our way, with two wheelbarrows full of tools to our usual base next to the woodchip path by the northern branch of the Ock. Our main task was to re woodchip the path using to woodchip left by the council contractors after felling some trees. We also needed to cut back nettles from the edge of the path, as it had become very narrow in some places. As usual, there was litter picking to be done, and a special new task was to test the water of the Ock for nitrates and phosphates. We are doing this for the freshwater branch of Earthwatch and will test the same spot at regular intervals. We embarked on our various tasks. For the water testing, we scooped water out of the river with a bucket and drew it into a tube containing powder. We timed 3 minutes for the nitrate and 5 minutes for the phosphate, then