Abingdon Green Gym Blog

Blog by Helen and Henry, photos by Helen, Henry, Margaret and Sally It was a chilly but dry morning when a group of 14 Green Gymmers arrived at the greenkeepers’ compound at Frilford Heath Golf Course, led by Sally. We headed off, with tools in hand, to work on Boundary House Fen at the edge of the golf course where our main tasks were to be scything, raking and cutting back brambles.   We met Rod D’Ayala at the Fen who gave us details of the work to be done. The five scythers in the group headed off to the far side of the stream where there was plenty of reed, rushes and sedges to be cut and cleared to heaps and bunds which form part of the fen management system.  A breach was apparent at the perimeter where deer had likely come through, causing a fast stream of water to enter the fen from the main spring.  Several people were tasked with moving old cut material to compact onto the breached zone. After a number of loads were delivered to the affected area, the flow was successfully st

Blog by Eleanor, photos by Sally and Kevin We met in the car park of Hinksey Heights golf course, which has a large nature reserve and a public footpath nature trail running through it. We were joined by new member Jane, who joined us for the first time on a Saturday. The temperature had risen slightly since the previous days' frosts, but this was replaced by a cold wind. John Brimble, the landowner, welcomed us and led us across the golf course, to the area where we were going to be working.  First, Kevin needed to cut a path through the hedge, then John cut through some barbed wire so we could descend a precipitous slope to the brambly and somewhat boggy area just above the two lakes.  We had worked on the other side of the lakes near the public footpath before, but never on this side.  John told us that the water for irrigating the golf course all came from these lakes. Our task was to cut back bramble and elder to make a clear way through to the lakes.  There was a lot to do, s

Blog by Eleanor Fifteen Green Gymmers attended the Annual General Meeting of Abingdon Green Gym, which was held in the Perry Room, All Saints Methodist Church, Appleford Drive. After tea, coffee and biscuits we got down to business with reports on sites and sessions, membership, finance and tools and equipment.  We were pleased that two new people joined the committee.  We also discussed the proposal to celebrate our twentieth anniversary later in the year. A great incentive to attend the A.G.M. is the buffet lunch held afterwards at Carolyn and Kevin's house nearby.  Everyone contributes food or drink and we enjoyed a spread of ham, chicken, quiche, pies, sausages, salads, crisps and cheese followed by trifle and meringues.  We thank Carolyn and Kevin for their hospitality. We were so busy eating, drinking and socialising that we forgot to take any photos.  Next week we will be back to our more usual activities with a session at Hinksey Heights.

Blog and photos by Eleanor Although the programme stated that we would be working at the Tesco end of the Ock Path, the weather had other ideas. After days of heavy rainfall, the area was completely flooded as was the Town end of the path. Fortunately, our ever-resourceful programme coordinator, Adrian, suggested a swap with the Dry Sandford Pit session, due in mid February, and Beth Hall, the BBOWT officer for this site agreed, though she asked us not to work in front of the cliff faces, which were crumbling and dangerous. Eleven of us assembled at the site, which fortunately lived up to its name. It was a beautiful sunny day, though chilly, and it was great to see the sun after the wet, cloudy week. The task was to clear scrub from the grassland area. Adrian cleared a path through to the area where we would pile the cut material and then he and Roger set to work with scythes on a massive bramble thicket while the rest of us cleared sprouting blackthorn, hawthorn and dog rose and Jame

We had to postpone our return to Frilford Heath Golf Course to continue with the cut and rake of reed in the area between Two Pines Fen and Boundary House Fen due to Storm Gerrit, but we were able to go back on 2 January 2024 for another "midweek special" and our first session of the New Year.  5 hardy souls came clad in waterproofs as it was rather a wet start to the morning.  We were joined by Rod d'Ayala, consultant ecologist.   There were four scythers and, with Rod, we had two people to rake the cut reed.  This is an important link between the two fens and we are trying to get it back to a favourable condition for the rare alkaline fen plants and insects to thrive.  This means that we have to cut the reed very low and rake very hard to remove the build-up of "thatch" thereby preventing the build-up of nutrients and also to allow light to aid seed germination and disturb the seed bank. Break time soon came round and our number reduced to 5 in total with Rod.

Blog by Kevin.  Photos by Kevin and Sally For our last session of 2023, Abingdon Green Gym was at Jarn Mound Wild Garden, which is one of the Boars Hill sites managed by the Oxford Preservation Trust.  It was attended by 15 Green Gym volunteers and 2 OPT volunteers, Peter and Mary.  The tasks for the morning as requested by Hannah of OPT was to clear the pathways through the Jarn Mound Wild garden and fill in the watery muddy patches around the gate entrances and at the bottom of the steps leading up to the Mound, with cut branches and a topping of brash from a pile of previously cleared bracken and brambles. We did a quick walk around the area with the volunteers to show everyone what was needed. The conditions, as you can imagine after the recent storms, were very muddy in places, but one consolation with working in the garden was a large shelter (a facility we seldom have!) which was ideal for our refreshment break. The volunteers strung out along the path to spots where brambles an