Barton Fields Annual Hayraking and stacking - Saturday, 26th August 2026

By -

Blog by Eleanor - Photos by Julio

This was our annual hay raking and stacking session in Barton Fields. The wildflower meadow had been cut by machine on Wednesday, and David and the Abingdon Naturalists Green Team had raking sessions on the Thursday and Friday, but not many people were available, so on Saturday it was Green Gym to the rescue!

Wildflower meadows thrive on poor soil. If the soil is too rich, grass dominates and out competes the wildflowers. At the end of August, when the flowers have shed their seeds, the meadow needs to be cut and the cut material raked off as soon as possible, otherwise too many nutrients go into the soil.


The task looked really daunting and the weather was not promising, dull and rather drizzly, but not the heavy downpours we had feared. Fifteen Green Gymmers turned up, led by Barbara and Dieuwke, plus some Green Team volunteers.
Arriving on site

Busy in the field
We set to work, piling the cut vegetation on to drag sheets or pitchforking it on to heaps at the sides of the meadow. The heaps will provide winter shelter for small mammals, reptiles and amphibians. We were determined to finish the main meadow by break time. There were two more meadows to be tackled.
Carol
Carolyn and Dieuwke
David, who is also on the Green Team as well as the Green Gym
Michele
Sally
Harriet (from the Green Team) and David
Harriet and Michael (from the Green Team)
Adrian found the shedded skin of a grass snake, which Kevin is displaying

The exhausted volunteers - a great job done!
One of the natural habitat piles collected
The finished article
Kevin, Julio & Carolyn comparing steps walked















After a very welcome break, we made our way to the two smaller meadows, which had not been raked at all. Adrian found a sloughed grass snake skin, which indicates one of the creatures that uses the meadow and takes advantage of the heaps. We had a rhythm going now and by 12.30, we had finished. The photo shows the weary but satisfied workers and David Guyoncourt, who is in charge of Barton Fields was really pleased.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jarn Mound and Wild Garden, Boars Hill, 9th April 2016

By Andrew -
Image
This was a new site for us - however, it is not far from our usual work locations at Boars Hill, and it is also owned and managed by the Oxford Preservation Trust. Jarn Mound  was laid-out in the late 1920s and early 1930s by famed local archaeologist, Sir Arthur Evans.  It consists of an artificial mound, 15 metres high, which was originally constructed to enable breathtaking views over to the city of Oxford in one direction, and the Vale of the White Horse in the other.  Significant tree growth in the intervening decades has obscured much of these views, yet the structure remains impressive, and the steps to the top are still in place.  Around this main feature are wild gardens, including rare plants and shrubs and many stone steps, benches and rockeries. Session leader, James, had visited the site earlier in the week with Andy Gunn from Oxford Preservation Trust, in order to discuss what work was to be done.  The overall aim was to begin restoring the gar...
Read more

Lincombe Lane Field, Boars Hill - Saturday, 2 May 2026

By -
Image
Blog by Sally.  Photos by David, Michele and Sally We had a very good turnout, with 17 Green Gymmers, for our second visit to Lincombe Lane Field, one of the Boars Hill sites owned by Oxford Preservation Trust.  Once again, we were lucky with the weather - it was a beautiful spring day.  We met consultant ecologist, Rod d'Ayala, under whose direction we worked and made our way down the field with the various tools for the jobs which Rod had listed for us.  The field slopes towards the village of Sunningwell.  At the bottom of the field, there is a wood and part of our task is to restore that to fen.  On this visit, however, we were limited in what we could do as it is bird nesting season, so we could only work in certain areas and do limited tasks which meant that we wouldn't disturb any. Rod briefs the group We had three main tasks.  One was to cut and rake the nettle slope, removing any stray hemlock plants.  The second was to dig up hemlock fro...
Read more

Old Berkeley Golf Course, Boars Hill - Saturday 25th October 2025

By -
Image
 Blog by Eleanor, photos by Kevin and Eleanor Only ten Green Gymmers came to this session at Old Berkeley Golf course, next to Abrahams Wood on this cold and occasionally drizzly morning, but we were joined by Richard, an Oxford Preservation Trust volunteer, so that made an extra scyther. We made our way down to the bottom of the field, where Rod d'Ayala briefed us on the task. The aim is to rewet the area by building dams along the ditch so the water will spread out across the field. Rod briefs us on the task Rod instructs Simon The dam While the scythers set to work scything the grass and rushes, a task which we had last done in August, the rest of us moved the piles of cut bushes down to the ditch where Simon spread them out. We then had to move the existing heaps of cut grass and rushes and place them on top. Carrying a load Kevin moving a load Carolyn and Dieuwke with a drag sheet  Working by the ditch When we had moved the existing heaps, it was time to rake the vegetati...
Read more