Abingdon Green Gym Blog

Blog by Sally.  Photos by Eleanor, Margaret and Sally On Saturday, 23 March, 13 Green Gymmers went to Old Berkeley Golf Course, Boars Hill, which is a site owned and managed by Oxford Preservation Trust, adjacent to Abraham Wood.  We were joined by Peter, one of the OPT volunteers who had been helping on their mid-week task who wanted to finish laying a timber path at the bottom gate to Abraham Wood as it was very muddy.  Our main task was to do a spring cut of the rush which is spreading around the flush that runs through the field, taking up water and space, crowding out the diminutive "ivy-leaved crowfoot", which is extremely rare in Oxfordshire.  Hannah from OPT had also asked us to cut back a patch of scrub by the fence to Abraham Wood in preparation for the family Easter hunt they have planned for next weekend. We had to watch our step as the field is used by a number of dog walkers some of whom unfortunately fail to clear up after their pooches.  We set u...

Blog by Eleanor.  Photos by Margaret and Eleanor Twelve Green Gymmers assembled for our Spring session at Southern Town Park, Abingdon.  Our main task was to work on our wild flower patch at the southernmost end of this little known area of Abingdon. There was also litter to clear and quite a lot of branches blown down by the Winter storms.  The day was mild and sunny as we made our way across the very soggy football pitches, where Abingdon Youth Football club were playing on the least wet pitch. Having made our encampment by the picnic bench, Carolyn and Lesley kindly volunteered to do litter picking, others to clear fallen branches, while the rest of us set off for the wildflower patch. We were glad to see that the notice painted by Ursula a few years earlier was still standing. The first task was to dig up as much grass and as many nettles as possible, while trying not to disturb the other emerging plants. One advantage of the recent wet weather was that the ground was...

Blog"by Sally, photos by Jim and Sally We enjoyed another mid-week extra session to our programme at Frilford Heath Golf Course to continue with the cut and rake of reed in the "Between the Fens" area, which links Two Pine Fen with Boundary House Fen.  We are trying to restore this area to its former glory as a haven for orchids and other calcareous fen specialist plants.  A team of three Green Gymmers was afforced by Richard.  The four of us set about scything the old, tall reed around the ladies' tee and under the trees, which we managed to achieve by lunchtime.  For a change, we were blessed with fine weather - with only a few spots of rain, but nothing to speak of.  After lunch, we started operation rake up.  The bund of cut reed we had formed by the stream was getting a bit high, so we started to make a heap for the green keepers to remove at a later date.  We also managed to rake up the cut material that we had left when Storm Henk forced us to m...

Blog by Eleanor, photos by Kevin, Adrian and Joan This Saturday was our second visit to Lashford Lane Nature Reserve. It was, fortunately, milder than our previous, frosty, visit in early December, though rain was threatening. Having squeezed into the tiny car park, Adrian outlined the tasks to us. A lot of work had been done felling ash trees, which had suffered from ash die back and he warned us to keep clear of certain trees which were threatening to fall. We then set off on our long trek to the fen site where we were going to be working. Our task was to clear a runnel of overhanging trees, brambles and other vegetation, which were blocking out the light and impeding the flow, and to scythe the reeds along the margin of the runnel. The scythers set to work on the reeds and the rest of us with sawing and lopping. Some of the branches were quite big and sawing them down was quite a challenge. We also had to be careful where we put our feet, since we were working on a fen and the water...