Abingdon Green Gym Blog

 Blog by Eleanor, photos by Sally and Kevin                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   We met, as usual, in the Greenkeepers' compo...

Blog and photos by Sally With prior agreement with Frilford Heath Golf Course, we returned for two mid-week "specials" in order to carry out the spring cut and rake of Two Pines Fen, which is bordered by the red and green courses and can only safely be achieved mid-week, when there are fewer golfers thus reducing the possibility of being hit by a flying golf ball!  This little calcareous fen is home to about a dozen types of orchid, Grass of Parnassus and both common and broad-leaved cotton grass as well as some rare mosses and sedges.  Without the spring and autumn cuts, reed and hard and soft rush would take over and the rare plants cannot compete with them and eventually, the fen would turn to scrub.  Part of our task was also to remove birch, willow, hawthorn and bramble which have begun to encroach in recent years. On 9 April, six volunteers (Adrian, Graham, Jim and Sally from AGG joined by friends Rich and Guy) managed to cut and rake the red course half of the fen,...

 Blog by Eleanor, photos by Sally There was plenty of work to do on the Hinksey Heights Nature Trail, though, sadly, only eight Green Gymmers were able to come. We met in the car park in chilly, but sunny weather and set off along the track with the tools loaded into the wheelbarrow. We set up base by the pond, and Sally took us on a recce along the trail. We were glad to see that the pond has a fence now and a notice asking walkers to keep dogs under control, as dogs running into the water can contaminate it with flea powder, which can kill aquatic life. The tasks were to cut back bramble from the edge of the trail, to scythe rushes by the pond, avoiding any orchids and twayblades, to scythe in the dell, avoiding woolly thistle and to pull up grass around the young trees. As we set to work, some Hinksey Heights volunteers arrived to continue working on the board walk, which will make the trail passable in muddy conditions. We worked hard until tea break time and we appreciated hav...

 Blog by Eleanor, photos by Sally, Kevin and Eleanor There was a good attendance at this session on a very welcome warm, sunny day.  As well as Green Gymmers, there were two Oxford Preservation Trust volunteers, Pasindu and Peter, who have worked with us at Boars Hill before. We were working in the woods, where our tasks were to cut back bramble in the glades and to cut back holly at the far end. The ground was extremely muddy after the wet Winter, particularly around the entrances to the woods, so another task was to lay small logs over the mud to make a dry surface.  Sally set to work scything in the glade, Kevin, James, Graham, Pasindu and Peter went to cut logs and lay them at the entrance opposite Jarn Mound and the rest of us went to cut holly, negotiating another very muddy area. Sally pointed out some bluebells in the glade where she was scything, which we had not seen in previous seasons. This shows the value of making glades in the woods so the sunlight can get ...

Blog by Sally and photos by Kevin and Sally On 6 April we returned to Cothill Fen SSSI, which is a site maintained by Natural England.  The NE volunteers had been there the day before for the spring cut of the vegetation and Adrian, our leader for the session, was one of them.  Abingdon Green Gym was last at this site in November 2023, so we were keen to re-visit. We met Adrian and Steph from NE in Cothill School car park, where we welcomed Emma, who joined AGG for the first time.  The wheelbarrow was loaded with as many tools as it could safely handle and others grabbed the rest of the rakes and pitchforks, before setting off along a very muddy String Lane to the kissing gate entrance to Cothill Fen, which is adjacent to Parsonage Moor SSSI, part of the same calcareous fen complex, but is maintained by BBOWT, our local Wildlife Trust. Steph instructed the Group - there were 13 of us - from base camp on the track between the two fen areas.  There was cutting back spr...