| | | | Task Programme
These are our forthcoming events. Details of pick up times and locations are on our FAQ and we send out an email during the week before each task on our Mailing List. For any other questions please contact  .
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Our September visit to the beautiful National Nature Reserve in the Chilterns. Working with an experienced warden from Natural England, we'll be clearing a line through some scrub to allow a new fence to be installed in the future. Fences are key to managing the flocks of sheep that keep the grassland in fine condition. If you've never been to this national nature reserve you could do a lot worse than come along with OCV and find out how it's managed. | | Leader: Tim Evans | Driver: Tim Howard |
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OCV's monthly committee meeting is taking place in the Jury Room of the Town Hall at 8pm. Everyone is welcome - come along to find out how the charity is run and perhaps get involved. Alternatively, you can join us afterwards for a pint at Far From the Madding Crowd from around 9pm (down the alley next to where Borders used to be). | |
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Two different projects for today. We'll be helping to plant a wild flower meadow in an unused part of the cemetery, we've not done this kind of work for a bit, but it should be well within our capabilities and perhaps won't be too strenuous. Then we'll be kicking off the Autumn 2010 hedgelaying season with another short section of the hedge alongside the cemetery footpath. We'll be able to see how the hedgelaying we did the year before is fairing. It was showing some promising signs of rejuvenation the last time we looked. Given the age of the hedge, the hedgelaying work is likely to be a bit brutal and look quite drastic, but the end result should be a denser hedge, more useful for wildlife as a corridor, habitat and source of food. | | Leader: Tim Evans | Driver: Paul Clarke |
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Another visit to the Trap Grounds, a varied site in North Oxford that is rapidly-becoming a regular destination for us. We'll be working with locals from the Friends of the Trap Grounds to uproot brambles from the meadow area and perhaps make seats out of cut timber. There will most likely be a bonfire to celebrate the arrival of Autumn! | |
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A new site for OCV, this privately-owned copse in North Hinksey is a piece of traditional coppice woodland. There are stools of hazel and ash with much larger oaks dominating in places. Being quite small, it rubs up against the backs of people's gardens and borders the copse and fen attached to Louie Memorial Fields. We'll be working with the owner and focussing on coppicing and scrub clearance. Our aims will be to remove non-native bushes spreading in from the gardens, reduce the encroachment of the scrub and bramble onto the meadow, and coppice some of the hazel. | |
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Majliss Indian Restaurant this month, on the Cowley Road, Oxford.
As it's always full of people, I reckon it must be quite a good place to eat. Please feel free to tell me otherwise! More details to be sent by email soon. | |
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We last visited this site in June to sensitively clear some scrub in preparation for some hydrology work on the ditch and fen. In the past, we've also helped to prevent further willow encroachment onto the fen. This week we'll be returning to help with more tasks on the site, planned and supervised by hydrology and ecology experts. Join the OCV mailing list for more information about this and any other projects. | |
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OCV have been involved with the Lye Valley Nature Reserve in East Oxford for many years. Even though it's a small acreage, it's full of rich wildlife habitat. Last Summer we helped to extend a pond in the wetland, as well as our usual tasks of clearing the footpaths, pollarding the willows and raking the fen. Today we'll be fen-raking again, managing it in this traditional way prevents it scrubbing over and avoids the soil getting enriched. This maximises biodiversity on this beautiful SSSI. It's hard work, but very worthwhile. | | Leader: Michelle Reid | Driver: Paul Clarke |
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We're returning to this valuable nature reserve to take part in a project planned by BBOWT who own this site, an SSSI and SAC (Special Area of Conservation). This project is aimed at creating some areas of open water in the fen and encouraging early succession areas by cutting peat. Essentially we're digging peat from one area and moving it to another. That may sound simple, but it should be very incredibly important for wildlife diversity on this site. Wellies will be very advisable! | | Leader: Steve Lilley | Driver: Jo Gay |
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Our regular monthly visit to this favourite site in the Chilterns. We'll be working with the wardens from Natural England to do whatever reserve maintenance is most pressing. At this time of year it could be scrub clearance, fence building or caring for one of the flocks of sheep on the site. Further details will be in the regular weekly email.
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We worked at Stansfeld last year building some dipping platforms; small walkways extending into ponds used for collecting samples from the water. These have been very successful and useful for the many schoolchildren who visit the centre. Since Stansfeld is also the home of our tool store, we won't have to drive far after the usual pick-ups and we won't have to worry about forgetting any crucial tools! This site is in Oxford so feel free to come for just part of the day if you prefer. | |
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