On the Green Edge

By ‘C’:

Another perspective for us on the village of Dorchester:

That’s the northern green edge to the Oxfordshire village – except that it is not looking especially green at the moment.  In the background of the pic: Wittenham Clumps, part of.  During the session itself, we could not see them: in the first half, that was because from the north side of the village there are few views of the gorgeous countryside to the south unless one has the advantage of a bit of elevation.  Where that shot was taken, the artificial height was in the form of a track leading to the little-used bridge which spans the (in)famous Dorchester by-pass.

It was the first time I had traveled to Green Gym on the bus.  Normally we are at locations not well served by public transport.  What you cannot see from the by-pass, not even while carried along as a passenger on the top deck of a bus, is Demesne Field (which is still worked as farmland) and the old lane alongside it, which now serves as a footpath.  Both field and pathway were looking rather more autumnal than one might expect in July:

One stretch of the path has been adopted by a trust.  The other stretch – well no-one knows who it belongs to.  Over the years, volunteers from the village have kept it clear of fallen branches.  Before our own volunteer team started work, it did not look too bad this year, because vegetation has been checked by the very dry summer.  Even so, one half of ‘our’ stretch featured vegetation encroaching from the sides:

The very first thing to be done was definitely one which fell to the Session Leader.  That was me today.  So, before the team assembled, I walk the length of ‘our’ stretch of path, kitted out with sturdy plastic gloves + large supply of biodegradable bags, and cleared up after irresponsible dog-owners.  Most of the mess was within a 3-metre radius of the facilities provided by thoughtful parish council!

Evidently there are some people who think of the path as ‘theirs’ in the sense that they and their animals are entitled to walk along it, but not in the sense that they accept their share of responsibility for keeping it in good order – and pleasant for everyone else:

That had been sprayed on the ground before I arrived.  (Is there a specific term for a ground, as opposed to the usual wall, graffito?)  My guess is that the artist does not so much wish to know the identity of the miscreants, as desire that they cease and desist.

After the dog-poo patrol had passed by, the rest of the team could follow on behind, and clear vegetation without having to be quite so concerned about where they put their feet.  Clearing space for path-users was swiftly done …

and then it was on to the next task.

Task 2 was on a picturesque lane on the south side of the village.  Walking along after the crew had car-pooled their way there, I was wondering to begin with what call there could be for Green Gym at this location:

Then I came to the stretch where there certainly was need for some care for nature, mostly of the removing of ‘bully species’ type:

Here too one could see there are residents who are very village-proud and not backward in coming forward to express their views:

Tea-break was by the allotments, from where there are clear views of the Clumps
– a good place to be consuming cake which had a tendency to crumble, and therefore needed squashing together into … clumps:

This was near where, on a previous visit, we had come across archaeological investigations in full swing.  The dig-site is presently returned to its former state:

Some ingenious allotment-technology also caught Green-Gymmers’ eyes.  This delightful home-made bird-scarer dances in the breeze:

After tea-break the verge-crew finished off their work.  Then the ‘Ivy League’ teams got stuck into some serious tree-care activity – which they seemed to enjoy a lot.  Here it was a question of freeing living tree from the grip of dead tree and a great weight of ivy:

“I think we may have saved a tree there.”

Fortunately, the weather was kind to us today.  It had been quite beastly during the week.  I mean, people may have differing views on whether hot & sunny = good, but just when clear skies would have been really good … ha!

One had spent some time preparing.  It was going be full moon last Friday.  Moon close to horizon, therefore seeming larger.  And a lunar eclipse: from 20:49 to 22:13 in London, so around 8.52 to 10.16 pm in our neighbourhood.  In some parts of the world, likely an enhanced ‘blood-moon’ due to effect of smoke from wildfires.  Plus, at the same time, the red planet appearing larger and brighter than in the last 15 years, because Mars is approaching its closest point to Earth (‘perihelic opposition’, apparently).  One had worked out a couple of days in advance the best places for viewing and photographing without going too far from home:

Then come the big day – or rather the dark night – the heavens were like this:

Worst of both worlds!  Sufficient cloud cover to disappoint sky-gazers, but not enough to let fall even a few drops of much needed rain.  If given the choice, I would gladly have foregone astronomical wonders in favour of a land-reviving downpour.

For the latter we had to wait until Sunday morning, when it rained (almost) cats and dogs.  And still the dry weary land could use more!

Day-time Revels

By the Session Leader:

What, one might ask, were Green-Gymmers doing partying at 11 in the morning?

A jar at the pub after a session is one thing, but not at that hour surely!

They were in fact engaged on the most popular task of the morning – one which was not even on the original manifest.  [Not all changing of plans is unwelcome – Ed.]  From behind, it looked as if volunteers were taking part in some strange South-Oxfordshire rite, for the coming of the equinox perhaps:

Looking closer, one might think a touch of Zorba the Greek had found its way in!

The answer, of course, was more prosaic.  These supposed revellers were actually filling potholes in the driveway:

The other brutalist task of the morning was to dismantle an old bird hide.  This was one of the jobs tackled first.  Three of the support posts were pulled out, and appeared good enough to be re-used:

The fourth one I kicked, and it broke off at ground level.  (Oops: me and my big feet ...  Well it was rotten, honest!)  There was then a small carpet mountain, which had been next to the (now ex-) bird hid, to be moved.  [By brute force, rather than faith – Ed.]  Here the last load is being dragged away.  Note the pallet on top to make sure it didn't escape!

A gentler and more aesthetic, but still demanding, task was to clear sycamore/nettles and tidy tree guards along the bridleway hedge:

Here volunteers are putting the final touches on the end of this section before they moved on to the next:

Meanwhile, there was an autumn maintenance-task on the outdoor furniture: to strip the old paint off wooden benches, and prep for repainting.  It had been anticipated that this might generate a lot of dust.  [So ‘dust masks’ had been added to the ‘control measures’ in the written Session Risk Assessment.  Well done, Andy!  I wouldn’t have thought of this myself: I mean, we always have used dust masks when needed, but I had not thought to list them in the risk-assessment documentation. – Ed.]  In fact, it was better doing them wet.  Site-wardens Sue and Roger plan to oil them when they are dry (the benches that is, not Sue & Roger).  

“The grand strip”

Here, late in the session, is an almost finished (cleaned) bench.  Well done, Mark O! a task that didn’t have too many volunteers.

And the other main task undertaken this morning, besides the many smaller odd-jobs: to clear floating vegetation (? blanket weed) from the study-centre pond.

This was partially successful.  If you sacrificed some of the oxygenating pond weed to act as a sort of sieve, that took some of it out.  I tried to sort one from the other, in order to return the good weed to the pond; but decided that the good weed left in the pond would grow back, rather than risk putting ‘bad weed’ back!

A wonderful display by three different types of dragon/damsel-fly was seen over the pond: green, green & blue, and red ones, possibly attracted by what we had stirred up?  Sadly too quick for my camera work.

There were other wildlife delights at tea-break.  Roger showed us one of the 100+ slow-worms rescued from Goring [for whom I think we built some accommodation in an earlier session? – Ed.]

In contrast, this juvenile grass-snake was a little more camera-shy unfortunately:

[The BBC reported recently (7 Aug 2017) that some scientists reckon the barred grass snake, ‘Natrix helvetica’, is a different species from the common/eastern grass snake, ‘Natrix natrix’.  Which would mean there were four different species of snake native to Britain instead of three; the other two being the smooth snake and the adder.  The latter is the only one which is venomous; they are all protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.  Grass snakes can grow to more than a metre long; and are often to be found near water, as their diet consists mainly of amphibians such frogs and newts.  The barred grass snake is grey, not olive green like N. natrix, and does not have the same bright yellow collar, apparently. – Ed.]

Roger also reported several types of bat roosting in the old boatyard shed, barn & tawny owls nesting in the forest area, and even the odd osprey sighting.

Our ‘after’ photos from this morning may not be the most exciting:

But we can confirm that the drive out was much better than our arrival.  If only OCC (Oxfordshire County Council) could do the same in the rest of the county!