Wednesday evening's task was a race against the sunset: We just about won!

Throughout autumn and winter Boundary Brook Nature Park do a lot of work to maintain their grassland areas. This mostly involves cutting back the brambles, which can easily take over and swamp more delicate plants, then digging out their roots. After all the recent rain this proved to be a very squelchy task, and the roots tenacious, but we managed to dig out several wheelbarrow loads of bramble roots before darkness stopped play. We were hoping to spot some bats in the reserve as darkness fell, but sadly none were visible - perhaps they were hiding from the rain?!

Last night we gradually extended the wheelchair accessible path to the bird hide at Boundary Brook Nature Park. A convoy of wheelbarrows, a pair of shovellers, a fine duo of rakers, and Bethan working those biceps on the heavy roller had the path inching ever closer to joining with the rest of the path network. There are just a few metres to go now to join it all up with the paths we built in previous years. Go team!

...is wheelchair accessible paths around the nature park. So who better to shovel and barrow 10 tonnes of gravel to make the dream a reality than GoodGym?!

We are actually quite the pros at this task, having created the current network of wheelchair accessible paths around Boundary Brook Nature Park 2 years ago. Those paths stood up to the wettest of winters pretty well, showing up the need to link up some other areas to the network. Tonight we started to build the path to the bird hide (a project we also had a hand in). We certainly got our step count up and a decent upper body work out pushing gravel all across the site to the furthest point!

There might be some sore arms in the morning, but also pride in what we managed to get done.

Watch the Countryfile episode featuring Boundary Brook Nature Park and Wytham Woods here.

With Boundary Brook Nature Park Open Afternoon this coming Saturday GoodGym were called in this week to make sure all the paths were clear and wide enough for wheelchairs and buggies. We took a 'divide and conquer' approach, with teams heading to different zones of the nature park to ensure that the paths were fully accessible. The site is now ready for visitors this weekend. In two weeks time we will return to replenish the gravel along the paths to help them stay dry and usable year round.

GoodGym have a lovely partnership with Boundary Brook Nature Park which goes back a few years. We've done a whole variety of tasks around the site, from reprofiling the pond, to building yards and yards of gravel path, litter picking and digging out bramble roots, to possibly our creepiest task to date - clearing the rubbish out of the abandoned sheds on the edge of the allotments.

Our January 2024 session at BB saw us getting stuck in (the mud) digging out bramble roots to try and stop them spreading further into the meadow area. Lazy dogs, forks, spades and plenty of brute force were the order of the day as we competed to dig out the biggest bramble root (some disagreement on whether length or girth were more important!). Working away, discarding layers as the sun broke through the clouds, getting thoroughly covered in mud, we ended up chatting away about all kinds of assorted topics including giant edible dormice, the current tally of GoodGym babies, the goats at Oxford City Farm, and how much Charlie has in common with a Disney princess with his knack of attracting wildlife to him (a frog, robin, cockchafer beetle grubs).

We always enjoy a couple of hours at Boundary Brook, so we'll look forward to some more path-building in the spring!

Welcome to GoodGym Susanna :-)

A pleasant Saturday morning with the Boundary Brook Nature Park volunteers raking leaves off the paths and planting 40 or so rose bare roots along the boundary line.

Congratulations on reaching 50 Good Deeds Ellie, and thank you for the excellent bakes to celebrate.