Mill Road/Manor Farm, Marcham - Monday and Tuesday, 21st and 22nd July 2025

By -

Blog by Sally.  Photos by Julio and Sally

As promised, we returned to Marcham on the evenings of Monday, 21st (nine of us) and Tuesday, 22nd (four of us) July with the intention of removing Himalayan Balsam from the ditch along Mill Road, having concentrated our efforts along the stream that runs parallel to the fields of Manor Farm in our two scheduled sessions earlier this month.  

Rhian and Margaret choose their sections of the ditch at the start of the session


A very relaxed effort - playing peek-a-boo with Margaret!

Once we'd cleared the main stretch of the ditch along the road, we continued further along working behind the ditch.  It was thirsty work as we struggled against nettles, bramble and bindweed.  

Margaret, Sally, Lesley and Rhian getting down to it

David and Sally tackling Himalayan Balsam growing in amongst the pond sedge 

The cleared ditch after our efforts

The HB Demolition Squad

On Tuesday, four of us returned to finish clearing that stretch of ditch and then we made our way along the stream and managed to clear another section.  There's still plenty there, but we have stopped hundreds of thousands of Himalayan Balsam seeds and hopefully created some space for our native flowers to thrive.  We'll return next year as the HB seeds remain viable for 3-4 years, so it's beginning to look like it's a job for life!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Abingdon Clubs and Societies Day, 29th March 2014

By Andrew -
Image
This was the bi-annual Abingdon Clubs and Societies Day, held at the Guildhall in the town centre.  It provides us along with the many other groups and organisations in Abingdon with the chance to have a stall and demonstrate to those attending what we get up to.  Also, it is a good opportunity to attract new members. Dieuwke was in charge of organising the stall this year.  We were placed opposite the Abingdon Naturalists Society who we regularly hold joint sessions with, but there were many other groups present whose activities do not overlap. We received much interest, with several people registering interest.  We look forward to welcoming new members over the coming weeks. -Andrew Dieuwke, Kevin and Carolyn at the Green Gym stall There was much interest in our activities during the day Information on our activities and marmalade for sale! Poster outside the Guildhall Abingdon Guildhall
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