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Back To Everyones Favourite Nature Reserve In The Chilterns


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Back in the dark ages before the internet and mobile phones, Oxford Conservation Volunteers used to type up the task programme by hand and distribute it to our members - it really was tough back then!

Our current task programmer, Chris Skepper, inherited a set of these antiquated paper-based task programmes and scanned them in to create pdfs of each page, so we now have this part of OCV history saved for posterity.

I thought it would be a wheeze to use these task programmes to track OCV's connection with a particular reserve from our beginnings in 1977 to the present day. I selected Aston Rowant as my target as we've had such a long-standing connection with this reserve - surely this would give plenty of material to work with... What seemed like thousands of task programmes and many hours later, I felt like I was in the middle of a never-ending thicket of scrub trying to bash my way through! From this exercise, I learned OCV had done an impressive amount of work at this reserve, and unsurprisingly, year on year, Aston Rowant always has more scrub for us to bash and fences for us to build.

So here is what I found out...

  • Between 1977 and the present day, OCV has done an amazing 261 tasks at Aston Rowant.
  • 29th Jan 1978: OCV did its first task at Aston Rowant when it was managed by the Nature Conservancy Council (which became English Nature and then Natural England!) This first task was described as "Various research and management schemes are being carried out which we will be helping with"...and we are still helping out today:
  • 23rd to 27th June 1978: One of our first OCV residentials was held at Aston Rowant. Volunteers stayed in a hall near the site and were asked to contribute 75p a day for food!
  • OCV held a total of 5 resis at Aston Rowant between 1978-1985 before we started travelling further afield for our residential trips. It seemed that staying in "The Barn" was a highlight of these events:
  • OCV also held 2 sponsored tasks at Aston Rowant on 6th Feb 1983 and 19th Feb 1984 where generous members of the public actually sponsored us to cut scrub. We raised funds for ourselves and for the BTCV.
  • As early as 1981 it seemed that Aston Rowant tasks had become a regular feature in the OCV calendar. On 26th April 1981 we were calling our tasks at Aston Rowant "the customary OCV visit to this NCC reserve".
  • From 1977 to 1987 OCV went to Aston Rowant about 3-4 times a year. This increased to 8-9 times a year between 1988 - 1990. In 1991 the Nature Conservancy Council became English Nature and the transition seemed to have an effect on our tasks, as OCV only visited Aston Rowant 3 times that year. However, normal service was resumed by 1992, and from then on we had regular tasks at Aston Rowant nearly every month.
  • Most of the work we have done at Aston Rowant has been scrub bashing and fencing - no surprises there! However between 23rd April and 25th June 1995 it seemed OCV undertook a major step-building programme to make access easier in parts of the reserve. We were rightly concerned that rival conservation groups didn't lower the high standard of our work:
  • After doing so many tasks for Aston Rowant, it is only natural that OCV regulars got to know the site wardens well. The retirement of Mike Cox in January 1996 merited a special mention in our task programme:
  • And there was some satirical concern expressed about finding his replacement:
  • Mick Venters was the subject of a running series of OCV task programme jokes...but it looked like he gave as good as he got!
  • Most of the task programme descriptions emphasised the conservation benefit of what we did. But occasionally there were other "humorous" descriptions:
  • In December 1999, an OCV tradition was started, and in the years to come it became customary to have the last task of the year at Aston Rowant with a huge bonfire and a feast!
  • The first explicit (!) mention of working with the Aston Rowant flock of sheep came on 30th July 2003. However at this stage they only let us help the warden move the flock to a different part of the site... no toenail clipping or dagging was mentioned!

Over the years OCV has built up a great partnership with Aston Rowant and our regular work has contributed to the conservation success of this site - it might not be obvious to everyone speeding past on the M40, but thousands of hours of OCV labour has gone into those fences, steps, and areas of chalk grassland. OCV wouldn't be the same without our regular monthly visit to Aston Rowant - we have built such a good long-standing working relationship with the wardens so it's an ideal task for new leaders and volunteers. Here's hoping that we will be coming "back to everyone's favourite National Nature Reserve in the Chilterns" for many years to come.

Michelle Reid

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