Abingdon Green Gym Blog

Blog by Sally.  Photos by Julio and Sally We returned to Kennington Memorial Field on a bright crisp morning on Saturday, 20 December to continue with scrub clearance of this species-rich grassland site.  Our leader for this session was Kevin, who had been briefed by Hannah Brockwell of Oxford Preservation Trust, who own and manage the land with the help of a few cattle which graze the field between spring and summer each year.  We numbered 15 - a fantastic turnout for the Saturday before Christmas. After we parked in the car park at the end of Playfield Road, Kevin briefed the group (although we hadn't all gathered at this point!): The Memorial Field is dedicated to the six men of Kennington village who lost their lives in the Second World War.  It is now a Local Wildlife Site. The notice board in the Memorial Field We collected the tools and the all-important Green Gym biscuits and made our way to set up base camp near to where most of our work would be undertaken....

 Blog by Eleanor, photos by Eleanor, Kevin and Sally Once more we had a session on the Ock Path, this time at the Tesco end. Fourteen volunteers turned out, and the weather was unexpectedly fine. One main task was litter picking. As the path leads from Tesco to the houses, people think it's OK to throw down their rubbish. I had realised when I did the recce that there was a lot of litter, but I hadn't bargained for quite so much.  The other main task was to clear the footpath of leaves that had accumulated throughout the Autumn and become very soggy and slippery, so some picked up litter picking sticks and bags, and others, spades to scrape the path. Susan gets stuck in Joan litter picking Dieuwke and Barbara join in A break on the gym equipment, Ock meadow The shovellers clear the path Roger and Margaret start clearing the bridge Meanwhile, Adrian set to work clearing the grating in the river. It is there to collect debris and litter, but if it isn't cleared regularly it m...

Blog by Eleanor, photos by Eleanor, Sally and David This was to be a short session for Green Gymmers, as it was the day of our Christmas lunch. We met by the bridge over the weir at the back of St Helen's Court, where the Ock joins the Thames, and made our way to the usual site of our encampment by the northern branch of the Ock. One task were to rake the soggy leaves off the woodchip path, which curves away from the main path towards the northern branch, then curves round to rejoin the main path. We will renew the woodchip in the Spring. There was a fallen tree to be sawn up, which James at once offered to do, some bramble to be cleared, plus a lot of litter picking. There is always litter along this path but especially at the Drayton Road end and under the bridge leading from Ock Street, so the litter picking crew set off in that direction. Susan raking the path The rakes' progress Litter picking A big haul of rubbish and recycling The recent damp weather meant there was some...

 Blog by Eleanor, photos by Julio and Sally It was definitely Wet Sandford Pit when we met in the car park in the pouring rain. Our leader, Kevin was wondering whether to call the session off, but surprisingly and admirably, fourteen people turned up, so we voted to go ahead. A soggy arrival The tasks were to clear the brambles and other vegetation from the base of the sandy cliffs and, if time, to do some coppicing in the fen. We weren't sure about the latter task as we thought the fen might be too wet. Fortunately, the cattle had been taken off the site, so that was one less thing to watch out for. Soggy briefing "Before" photo We picked up our loppers, rakes, pitchforks and scythes and set to work. most of the brambles were long and trailing, taking root again several feet from where they started. We set to work   The team at work We soon realised we had made the right decision as the rain eased off and finally stopped. By tea break time we decided to carry on until 12...