Lashford Lane Fen - Saturday 2nd December 2023

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 Blog by Eleanor. Photos by Kevin, Olivia and Sally                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                This was our first visit to Lashford Lane Fen, situated between Wootton and Dry Sandford and managed by Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust.

Thirteen Green Gymmers turned out, braving below freezing temperatures and fog. Adrian, our session leader, led us on quite a long trek to the area where we were going to be working. The main tasks were to cut back trees and scrub, so we were equipped with saws, loppers, mattocks and a tree popper, which is useful for getting small trees up by the roots.

There were two work sites and Adrian led some of us to the second one, which involved negotiating some quite marshy ground. Here, there was similar work to be done, cutting back small trees and scrub. We worked hard until break and our cups of hot tea and coffee were very welcome.

Some of us swapped work areas for the second half of the session. On both sites an opportunistic robin made an appearance. There was some coppicing to be done, as well as more cutting back and we did our best to warm our hands and feet, as the fog didn't lift nor did the sun show itself at all. We built a dead hedge, using all of the cut branches and raking up the residue, before making he long trek back to the car park.

The interpretation board





The work site




Preparing for work





Adrian instructing (or conducting?)



The frosty fen




A frosty cobweb










Lopping and sawing





Joan and Ursula






Tree popper in action




A task completed





Adrian and Barbara





Barbara raking



 

A nest






Tea break





Adrian coppicing





Kevin mattocking





Joan and Ursula attacking branches





Trees cut back

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