Abingdon Green Gym Blog

Blog by Sally, photos by Kevin and Sally We returned to Boundary House Fen at Frilford Heath Golf Course this week to continue with the cut and rake, working under the direction of consultant ecologist, Rod d'Ayala.  Kevin led a team of 10 Green Gymmers - 4 trained scythers and 6 rakers.  Kevin had arrived to find that the gate to the Greenkeepers compound had not been opened, so after a call to the clubhouse, the gate was opened.  Kevin dropped Carolyn off to greet everyone and when we had assembled we made our way across the golf course.  We could hear a couple of skylarks singing as we approached the fen.  Kevin had parked off the road nearer the fen to make it easier for him and Graham to transport the tools to our usual spot near the fen.  By the time we got there, Rod had joined us and was able to show where on the fen we would be working and what we'd be doing. Rod had managed to rake a good amount after our last session at the site, but there was st...

 Blog and photos by Kevin There were 10 volunteers who attended the Ock Path session with one new recruit.  Adrian was leading and once we had decamped the equipment in our usual spot by the stream, he explained the jobs to be done, which were wood chip laying on the muddy sections of the track that leads off the main path (a regular job), piling up branches into habitat piles, clearing the ivy off the large footbridge and litter picking. The wood chip laying required 3 volunteers, one shovelling the chips into the barrow, one wheeling the barrow to the muddy patches and one to rake and spread the chips over the patches.  It was quite an arduous task as we started to fill the muddy patches near the pile of wood chip but as we extended to patches further away the effort became harder, but swapping over the wheeling and the raking gave us enough rest to continue throughout the morning. Three of the volunteers collected the fallen and broken branches and piled them up, o...

Blog by Eleanor, photos by Sally This Saturday saw us once again at Hinksey Heights, to continue the work we had started a few weeks previously, that is to cut back brambles and clear a path to the upper lake on the side opposite the nature trail. There had been a lot of rain in the previous few days, necessitating the closure of the golf course, and we could see the flooding in the fields on the other side of the A34.  However, we were once again lucky with the weather, with only a slight drizzle as we made our way to the site and it wasn't long before we got some sunshine. The first task was to move the heap of brambles we had made on our last visit to a more suitable site, then to continue cutting back, clearing a path round to the edge of the lake, and, hopefully, locate the sluice, which would mean that water could be diverted from the upper to the lower lake.  It was probably the last time we could cut back brambles before the nesting season began.  Already there we...

Blog by Eleanor, Photos by Sally and Eleanor Abraham Wood, on Boars Hill, next to the Old Berkeley Golf Course is an Oxford Preservation Trust site. It used to be part of a private garden, and the aim is to return it to natural woodland, which means taking out laurel. We were also asked to take out holly, which is sprouting everywhere. There is also some bamboo by the top end of the wood. We tackled this a few years ago, but we still need to look out for the occasional sprouts and remove them. The wood is at its best in late April to early May, when it is covered in English bluebells (hyacinthoides non scripta). Numbers were quite low with only eight of us, but we were joined by two OPT volunteers, Pasindu and Peter. The weather was cloudy but mild as we made our way down to the wood. One of the tasks was to clear brambles from around the entrance gates. Sally set about tackling these with her scythe and I joined her to pick up the heaps and transfer them to a brash pile inside the gat...