Lincombe Lane Field, Boars Hill - Saturday, 17th October 2026

By -

Blog by Sally.  Photos by Julio and Sally

On a very bright, sunny morning, we returned to Lincombe Lane Field, which is one of the Boars Hill sites owned and managed by Oxford Preservation Trust.  This was our third visit to the site and it is great to see the progress being made in restoring the fen area as well as improving the grassland, which is grazed by a few ponies.

Jim making a new friend!

We met consultant ecologist, Rod d'Ayala, and his colleague, Steve Gregory, on site.  Altogether, there were 19 of us, including local residents, Rebecca and her daughter, Eva.  The ponies were fenced off so that they could be kept safely away from our tools.

The field was looking green after a smattering of rain, following four or five heatwaves over the summer months.

Rod briefs the group.  

Looking down to the area of fen that we would be working on

There were a number of tasks for us to do, including removing pendulous sedge, which although a native wet woodland plant, if left uncontrolled will become too dominant thereby crowding out other plants, removing willow scrub and scything and raking up sedges and rush, which will allow light for seeds to germinate - all assisting improvement to biodiversity.  

The willow scrub requiring removal

Graham, Carolyn and Julio lopping back willow.

Jim and Barbara scything a mixture of pond sedge and rush.  Baby pendulous sedge was pulled out by hand and larger plants were scythed.  We will try to dig them out at a later date.

Rosie scything

Fei, Eva and Rebecca digging up pendulous sedge

The growing heap of cut vegetation

A red deer stag from the deer farm wondering what we're doing


Rod and Steve assess progress made just before break time - lots of piles of cut vegetation and dug up pendulous sedge plants

A welcome break in glorious autumn sunshine.  Some of the trees are beginning to turn colour, but they seem confused with the weather.

After break, work continued.  Sally started scything the bramble thicket, taking care not to scythe ragwort as this is toxic to horses and they can't taste the bitterness when the plants have been cut and dried, and Julio kindly raked up the cut vegetation, which was put on an existing heap. The ragwort will be dug out, along with hemlock, which is also beginning to emerge.

Two Shetland ponies

A perfect place to rest, relax and enjoy the view - unfortunately, we had work to be getting on with!

We left the site having enjoyed a good morning's work, with great progress having been made.  We look forward to returning to continue the good work.




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

Old Berkeley Golf Course and Abraham Wood, Boars Hill - Saturday, 8 February 2025

By -
Image
Blog by Sally, Photos by Eleanor, Julio and Sally Despite the dull, grey inclement weather on Saturday, 8 February, 21 people turned out to volunteer at Oxford Preservation Trust's adjoining sites at Old Berkeley Golf Course and Abraham Wood, Boars Hill, including new member, Clare, two volunteers from the Chilswell Valley site, Richard and Denis, and Simon who is one of the OPT volunteers.   Eleanor was our leader for the morning and she explained that one group of people was needed to clear holly seedlings and remove encroaching vegetation such as bramble from the paths in the Wood and also any straying bamboo from neighbouring gardens, whilst the other group would be working under the guidance of Richard Newton, who is the Ashmolean Natural History Society of Oxfordshire's Flora Guardian for the ivy-leaved crowfoot, which is a diminutive plant favouring shallow pools and can easily get crowded out by the much bolder rushes.  This is the only site in Oxfordshire where i...
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