Abingdon Green Gym Blog

Jarn Field was a new site for us, situated beyond Jarn Mound and the sunken garden, with The Ridgeway running parallel to the far end.   A good number of us met at the end of Jarn Way on this fine, sunny Saturday. We made our way to the field, where Rod d'Ayala met us. He explained the tasks, which were to clear a pile of woodchip into the ditch; to scythe some bramble; to cut back low, overhanging branches from the trees between the field and the road, and to uproot small oak saplings, which were popping up around the edges of the field.      Collected material It is a popular dog walking area, and passers-by must have thought it odd when we told them what we were doing, as, these days, we are being told to plant trees absolutely everywhere. However, left to itself, the meadow would become oak scrub, then oak woodland. We set to work, Sally scything, several people raking and barrowing the woodchip into the ditch.  Some of us tackled the overhanging branch...

  Blog by Eleanor, photos by Julio and Kevin This was a special event, not on our usual Green Gym day. We had received an invitation to meet Layla Moran, M.P. for Oxford West and Abingdon, to publicise the launch of the Healthy Ageing Inquiry report. Layla is chair of the Parliamentary Select Committee, which prepared the report. We decided that our best option was to hold the event at the Town end of the Ock Path, where we could  finish renewing the woodchip path, a task we had been unable to complete in April due to insufficient woodchip. View of the northern branch of the Ock Six Green Gymmers arrived for this event, and we started work shovelling woodchip into the wheelbarrow, pushing it along, tipping it out and raking it, tasks at which we are very skilled. Ursula and Carolyn with shovels Ursula and Carolyn loading woodchip We were joined by Dr Muir Gray, medical adviser for the report, Victoria from BBC radio Oxford and Layla herself with her assistant, Ed. Victoria int...

Blog by Sally.  Photos by Julio and Sally On a fine May morning, 16 members of Abingdon Green Gym assembled at Boundary House Fen on Frilford Heath Golf Course SSSI to continue with its restoration.  The fen is calcareous, which is an extremely rare habitat.  The spring water that feeds the fen percolates over a large catchment area and through a layer of chalk, where it picks up calcium.  Under the chalk is a layer of impervious clay and the spring water then has to find a way through sand and gravel to the surface where it can form tufa (which is a bit like the limescale in our kettles).  Sadly, this fen is under the very real threat of the possibility of a quarry, as two fields near the Golf Course in the fen catchment area have been let to a firm of gravel extractors.  If this sand extraction goes ahead, it will impact the hydrology of the fen disastrously.  However, we didn't want to think about this today, but focus on the job in hand. Roger was ...

     Blog by Eleanor, Photos by Sally, Henry and Eleanor                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         ...