Abingdon Green Gym Blog

Blog and photos by Eleanor                                                                                                                                                                          The weather was dull and damp, but fortunately, without the heavy rain forecast the previous day. Our prospective tasks at the Town end of the Ock Path were to clear three areas and plant Spring wildflower bulbs, to put woodchip on the path in areas which had not been covered in an earlier session, to pick up litter and -, if time, to test some river water for phosphates and nitrates. Sadly, only the first of these tasks was completed as only four and a half people turned up for the session. The half will be explained later. Having unloaded the car we trundled the wheelbarrow laden with tools to our encampment. We then set to work clearing two of the previously marked out areas. Fortunately, the ground was soft from the recent rain, so it was fairly easy to pull out nettles by the roots, thoug

Blog by Eleanor. Photos by Helen and Kevin. After a frosty start, the day turned bright and sunny as the Green Gymmers met in the sports field car park for our session at Kennington Memorial Field. We were also joined by two Kennington residents. Kennington Memorial Field is managed by Oxford Preservation Trust and was established as a memorial to six Kennington villagers who died serving in the Second World War. It is popular with dog walkers and cattle are grazed here at certain times of year, though they were not on the field at present. The area is chalk grassland with small areas of woodland and it is important that brambles and scrub do not take over the grassland Our task was to cut back scrub and overhanging branches from the side of the site farthest from the main road, which slopes down towards the stream. We set to work with two scythers and the rest of us with slashers, loppers, rakes and pitchforks. We loaded the cut materials on to drag sheets and transported them to pile

 Blog by Eleanor   -   Photos by Sally, Kevin and Eleanor                                                                                                                                                                                                        Despite the blog's title, the work this session was not to be on the fen itself but in the woods behind it. It was raining as we set off on the footpath to the fen and the path was the wetter and muddier the we have ever seen it. When we arrived in the wood, Steph from Natural England explained that the main work was to get rid of brambles. There was also a secondary task of cleaning moss and debris off the board walk. We set to work, some with scythes and the rest with loppers and mattocks. As the ground was so wet, we found it was fairly easy to pull many of the brambles up by the roots. If not, we used mattocks to dig as many of the roots out as possible. We then transported them to a heap near the edge of the wood. As we work