Mid-Week Special - Two Pines Fen, Frilford Heath Golf Course SSSI - 14, 21 and 28 November 2023

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On three successive Tuesdays in November, Abingdon Green Gym and friends (12 in total) completed the autumn cut and rake of Two Pines Fen, which is a calcareous (or alkaline) fen situated between the red and green courses of Frilford Heath Golf Course.  The cut and rake is to mimic the action of herbivores and allow light for seeds to germinate and prevent the build up of nutrients in the peat, as the calcareous fen specialist flora do not thrive in rich peat.  Because of its location, we can only visit it midweek as it involves either the closure of a hole or the moving of a tee to avoid the risk of volunteers being hit by a stray golf ball - and, judging by the number of balls we found whilst working on the fen, the risk of this would have been quite high!  We donned our hi-viz jackets and each day made our way from the compound car park along the track to the fen.  Luckily, we are hardy souls so we had all brought waterproofs for when it rained, but the joy of seeing the fen in the autumn sunshine was something to behold - that and finding lots of delicate wasp spider nests!

On 14 November, we concentrated our efforts on the red course side of the fen and, under Rod d'Ayala's guidance we cut and raked the reed and sedge and packed this into the ditch, which is acting as a drain for the fen.  We were careful to maintain the flow of water so that the whole area does not completely flood and use the natural shallow stream to achieve this.  It was great to see that shallow pools of water had formed as this will be a vital habitat for the larval stage of many invertebrates which, in turn, help pollinate the several species of orchid and other fen specialist flora that thrive here.  We did as much as we could on the day as progress had been hampered by a bit of rain - although we have known much worse!

The following week was the turn of the green course side, which tends to be much drier underfoot and is favoured by the stunning Grass of Parnassus (the county flower of Cumberland).  The green keepers had kindly put notices in the clubhouse to let the golfers know that the hole had been closed so we could work freely.

Knowing that we had not finished the red course side completely, we agreed with the Golf Club that we would return on 28 November.  Adrian did some mattocking out of willow scrub and after lunch, Rich started the cut of the rush in front of the ladies' 16th as one of the greenkeepers had told us that he had seen a butterwort in flower in the late spring/early summer, which is very encouraging as we think it is a new species for the site or one that has not been recorded for some time.  Susan came in the morning to help with the rake and then Jan came in the afternoon.  It was their first time of visiting the site.  Jan christened the two Scots pines in the middle of the fen, Duncan and Gordon, and found that it was quite comfy to sit against them after a hard spell of raking.

We need to return to finish the area around the 16th red tee which lies between Two Pines Fen and its big sister, Boundary House Fen, to provide greater connectivity and hopefully improve the chances for the fen flora and fauna to spread between the two, before we start the process all over again in the spring.

A huge thanks to Adrian, Eleanor, Jan, Jane, Jim, Kathy, Mike, Philip, Rich, Rod, Roger and Susan for all their help.

Blog and photos by Sally

Roger and Jim scything on Day 1

In the thick of it

Rake's progress

Sphagnum moss - this is a rare variety

Working on the red side

Under blue skies

Fen-tastic!

Wasp spider's egg case

The "green" side and a lot of golf balls

Duncan and Gordon at the end of Day 2

At the start of a perfect day for finishing off the "red" side

Jim and Rich scything

Break time on Day 3

Back to it after lunch break

Rich takes on the rush area in the distance

Heaps of cut material moved off the fen, which is looking a lot more watery now!

The rush area cut in front of the ladies' 16th red tee 

Encouraging the natural stream

A good job, well done

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