Author Archives: wimklaucke

There were three tasks today on the Common: cutting back bramble by the crossroads; encouraging the heather by removing smothering bramble, cutting down leggy gorse and invading silver birch trees; and clearing back the bushes encroaching on a muddy footpath … Continue reading →

This month’s session at Aston Rowant was on the wind-swept slope of Linkey Down, where a rash of small hawthorn bushes needed removing before they grew large enough to shade out chalk downland wild flowers. They were too small be … Continue reading →

Thick fog and extensive flooding by the Thames for our March visit to Cleeve Water Meadow were no obstacle to our volunteers, 18 of whom turned up to clear 2 large trees brought down by winter gales. Small branches and … Continue reading →

Despite the change of site because of continued flooding at the site originally scheduled, we had a large contingent of volunteers to continue the hedge-laying project at Dunsden Church. Hazel branches had been brought from another site – thin, whippy … Continue reading →

Thank you to all of you who came to Withymead today. It was a good place to spend my 64th birthday. It was good to be able to see progress on so many different jobs. We also officially opened the … Continue reading →

Our task today was to smarten up the car park entrance drive by cutting back overgrown scrub along the verge and in the small wood. There were 14 in the group, and we made an informal dead hedge of the … Continue reading →

Our February visit to Aston Rowant found us cutting and burning scrub on a high hill-top overlooking the Oxford plain. Photographs from the 1960s show this was open grassland apart from some yew trees, so the wardens have made a … Continue reading →

Three consecutive visits to Dunsden churchyard in February helped us to make a lot of progress on the hedgelaying project as well as tackle some other tasks. Shrubs needed pruning back, and trees brought down by recent gales had to … Continue reading →

Heavy squalls did not deter our intrepid band at Green Broom Wood on 8th February. The weather turned sunny after our arrival so we could continue with our project of clearing brambles and fallen branches to open up the glades. … Continue reading →

An early year session on the Nettlebed Commons (18 January) brought us a lot of clearance on the Joyce Grove Triangle. Extremely wet but no rain of significance brought a number of green gymmers together to burn off even more … Continue reading →