Through the wardrobe

The C S Lewis Nature Reserve is one of Oxford's many pockets of nature. Managed by BBOWT and some dedicated local residents, it is a lovely patch of woodland with a large pond surrounded by the residential streets of Risinghurst.

One of the big challenges in the Nature Reserve recently has been people walking and biking off the footpaths, causing erosion and destroying areas of wildflowers. In some areas it is so bad that there is concern that the soil erosion is undercutting the tree roots and will cause those trees to topple one day - hopefully not on top of an unsuspecting visitor! To try and stop further damage our task was to help use some logs and branches to create natural barriers along the edges of the footpaths so that it is more obvious to people which are the rights of way. Quite a few trees have had to come down recently due to Ash die back, so although sad that gave us a lot of materials to work with.

2 hours of hard work, and we had created barriers in 3 of the most critical areas of the Nature reserve - at the top and bottom of the 'cliff' and also along a long section of the footpath up through the woods.

Good to meet you Jamie and Steve.