Every year we team up with Falcon Canoe Club for a spring litter pick during OxClean weeks. This year we couldn't get out on the water because the river is still very high and fast after the soggy winter we've just endured, so we set off to clear the areas along the river bank instead. Starting strong by filling a whole sack of litter in the Falcon Canoe Club car park, we then set off along Meadow Lane and through Aston's Eyot.

Unusual objects;
* a whole pile of bent tent pegs
* some sort of pagan circle, complete with scattered herbs and clay faces stuck to the trees
* full and opened bottle of rose wine
* socks

Same again next year?

MY GOODNESS WHAT WAS THAT WEATHER?!?!?!?

Extra kudos, pats on the back and gold stars to all who came to Hogacre this evening.

This evening moved boxes of manure over that railway bridge, spread the aforementioned manure in various fruit and veg beds, ferried hay from the recently mown meadow, picked apples, and tackled brambles. ALL IN THE HAMMERING RAIN.

No one drowned.....

Well done everyone, and welcome to Goodgym Alice and Jen!! We hope the next session you come to will be a tad drier.....

The answer: lots of regular scything.

Last night we returned to Aston's Eyot to try to get some nettles under control. An area that we've worked on previously has been earmarked as a picnic/play/chill-out space. Unfortunately it is currently covered in nettles. To ready it for the council's tractor we scythed and cleared lots of nettles, sawed some low hanging branches - Joe discovering some pole-sawing skills - and collected the inevitable litter.

Another team were sent a little further along the river to deal with a fallen tree. A tree surgeon had done the heavy work but we needed to clear branches from a river-side flower area. Sawing up branches is quite the workout but chats about books was a good distraction!

Well done team! We'll be back in September for another go!

Botley School had 3 more bags of shingle that needed transferring to the school quad. We helped shovel, wheelbarrow and rake the shingle, which was very satisfying! We then had some time left over so we helped with weeding too. The quad will have a grand reopening in a couple of weeks so it was nice to help get it looking smart!

Oxford Preservation Trust have a piece of meadow land up on Harcourt Hill which they want to use for grazing. A water supply has been sorted, fencing is on it's way, and the final job on the list is to get the ragwort explosion under control.

Common ragwort is one of the most frequently visited flowers by butterflies in the UK and more than 200 species of invertebrate have been recorded on it. However, despite it's benefits to biodiversity, it needs to be got rid of on grazing land. Ragwort poses a significant threat to livestock, particularly horses and cattle. While animals generally avoid it in its green state due to its bitter taste, they can ingest it when it's dried in hay or silage, or when other food sources are scarce. While ragwort is not a neurotoxin in the strictest sense, it can cause neurological symptoms in animals due to the liver damage it causes. The plant's toxins primarily affect the liver. When the liver is damaged, it can no longer properly filter toxins from the blood, leading to a buildup of these toxins and impacting brain function, resulting in neurological signs.

Hugging the shade, we set about digging and pulling up as much ragwort as we could. We managed a good haul, almost filling a tonne bag with plants. This is definitely an ongoing task, but we feel like we made a good start at it.

With the temperature finally starting to drop by the end of the session we had a beaut of a run post-task up towards Boars Hill.

Welcome to GoodGym Becca!