Matthew Arnold Field, Boars Hill - Saturday, 15th August 2026

Blog by Sally.  Photos by Julio, Margaret, Michele and Sally

Refreshed after our annual picnic last Saturday, we returned to Boars Hill to work on Matthew Arnold Field, another site owned by the Oxford Preservation Trust.  Kevin was our leader for the session and we worked under the direction of consultant ecologist, Rod d'Ayala.

Jim was asked to scythe a patch of bramble in the wooded area so that we could set up base camp in the cool of the shade and without the risk of getting prickled!  Although it was not as hot as it had been recently, it was rather warm in the sunshine.

Rod explained what he wanted us to do.  There was some scything of the bracken/bramble and area of long grass that the farmer who had mowed the field had left and in the wood itself, paths needed to be widened and also bramble and bracken to be scythed, and further down in the valley, emerging scrub (mainly willow) needed to be removed.  Those scything near the base camp were asked to be careful not to cut down the wood sage, which is a plant that favours slightly acid soil and, as its name suggests, thrives in woodland.

With only ten of us in the group, we were spread a little thinly, but we managed to get a lot done - all in all, a good morning's work!

The Matthew Arnold Field Plaque

Rod briefs the group

Part of the area to be cleared

One of the bracken patches to be cleared

Another part of the area to be cleared

The area of uncut pasture to be cut in the foreground with the bracken to the right.  Luckily, we weren't asked to rake the whole field!

Sally and Michele working in the sunshine - cutting a rough area of grass before scything the bracken, which was interspersed with low growing bramble

Roger scything the area to the right of the gate as you enter the woodland from the field, widening the path

Jim and Margaret scything the bracken and bramble in the woodland area

One area of the path leading down the valley before scything which Margaret tackled ...

... and the same area after scything and raking

Carolyn and Rhian get a-lopping and a-chopping in the valley

A gorse bush showing that the area was once heathland before the trees took over

A welcome break in the dappled shade

Kevin, Carolyn, Simon and Rhian removing scrub from the valley

Rod using the pole saw to remove high level branches - opening up the canopy allowing light to the understorey for other plants to flourish

A patch of wood sage after removing bracken and bramble from around it

Although it spreads through rhizomes, to give the wood sage a helping hand, Michele collected seeds from the wood sage ...

... and then scattered them on the cleared ground.  Hopefully, these will germinate and create new patches of wood sage. 

A common frog - the ponds still hold water

A puffball fungus

The cleared area after the scything and raking

More of our handiwork