Southern Town Park - Saturday 16th March 2024

By -

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 very soft, so they came up easily. We worked hard at this and Graham was standing by to transport them to a heap under the trees. We all met up again for tea break, where some of us got the chance to sit at a proper table, with biscuits safe from passing dogs.

There was a bit more nettle and grass weeding to do, then it was time to sow the seeds. We had cornflower, corn chamomile, poppy and vetch (annual) and toadflax, meadow cranesbill and vipers bugloss (perennial). I had also brought some ox eye daisy plants from my own wildflower garden and we planted these. There was a final bit of fallen wood clearing from around the area to do, then it was time to pack up and head back to the car park

Come and take a look at our wildflower patch in June, July and August, when it should be at its best and a great source of nectar for bees and other pollinators. 

Work on the wild flower patch begins






Work continues

Tea break

Work finished. If you look hard, you can just see the white labels.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pinkhill Meadow Nature Reserve, Farmoor Reservoir, 16th March 2019

By Andrew -
Image
Another week, another new site for the Abingdon Green Gym! We met at the car park at Farmoor Reservoir, a healthy turn out of 17 of us, including French father Sebastien, and his eleven-year old son, Maelo, who was joining us for a school project. The session was led by James under the instruction of Hanna Jenkins, the warden of Pinkhill Meadow Nature Reserve, so called because it is right on the banks of the River Thames, just near Pinkhill Lock. It was another blustery day. Will this crazy wind ever let up? We followed Hanna in convoy round the edge of the reservoir, which was choppy to say the least, and parked up on the other side where it was thankfully a little calmer, the high banks of the reservoir providing some shelter. Equipped with our tools, gloves and goggles, we made our way onto the spot on the nature reserve where we were to do our work. Hanna told us that the reserve had been formed in 1991, but some aspects had been neglected over the last ten years. The aim...
Read more

Kennington Memorial Field, 29th October 2016

By Andrew -
We have been working at Kennington Memorial Field for a number of years now, clearing scrub from the slopes so that the valley remains an area of grassland and wild flowers. This time Rachel from Oxford Preservation Trust was in charge and led us down to the lower end of the field, where we were to cut back the trees and bushes by several metres and burn the scrub on a bonfire. We were joined by some families with children of varying ages, the youngest only three, who had answered a local appeal for volunteers. We set to work and soon we had a bonfire going. Even the children who were too young to use loppers and saws joined in, carrying branches to the bonfire pile. Despite the drizzly weather they all worked cheerfully. At tea break time we enjoyed some delicious snacks that Rachel had brought and a tin of chocolates supplied by Michele. We found two old birds' nests in the course of the morning and cutting back the scrub revealed a log pile with a rabbit hole under...
Read more

Jarn Mound and Wild Garden, Boars Hill, 12th November 2016

By Andrew -
Image
Four weeks after our last session with the Oxford Preservation Trust at Boars Hill, we returned, albeit at Jarn Mound this time rather than the Elizabeth Daryush Garden; which had been our venue in October. We again met with  Rachel Sanderson of the trust, who along with our leader of the day, James, outlined the tasks for the morning.  Primarily, we were to clear the mound itself of scrub and tree saplings that had taken root there, with the intention of restoring it to its original state.  There were also some flatter areas of the garden that required clearing, for the less intrepid among us. Unfortunately, the day had begun a little on the inclement side.  Indeed as we arrived, the rain fell persisently, making many of us wonder if the session would go ahead at all!  But of course, the Green Gymmers are renowned for working whatever the weather, and the damp conditions did not deter us. A couple of problems were immediately evident due to the rain...
Read more