Thankyou to David for this piece …

Last Tuesday the grassland in Barton Fields was mowed by a local farmer and on Wednesday and Saturday teams of volunteers helped rake the hay off of the field into stacks.  This removes nutrients from the grassland, which helps to increase plant diversity.  The stacks rot down providing habitat for grass snakes, voles and other creatures.  This is a task that the Abingdon Naturalists’ Green Team have done each year for the past sixteen years.  It is keeps us fit apart from anything else.

On Wednesday the Green Team raked about three acres into ‘rolls’ ready for Saturday when we had 31 volunteers including: 17 – Abingdon Green Gym, 9 – 2nd Abingdon Scouts and 5 – Barton Fields Green Team.  They completed the job in about two and a half hours, including a break with refreshments provided by the Green Team.  The scouts particularly enjoyed jumping up and down on top of the haystacks!

David says We are very grateful to all the volunteers.

Thanks also go to Michael Bloom for the first and third pictures, and David for the group picture, and the scouts’ parents for giving permission for the images to be shown on the internet.