Photo Gallery

Ready, steady, coppice

Brasenose Woods on a crisp autumn morning - beautiful

Section 1999 in need of some OCV TLC

Mary's bonfire

Lots of bull rushes removed in a morning's work

Knocking in an intermediate fence post

The dismembered willow

The bank, a keen volunteer made an early start

The north fen, ready for raking.

OCV and the Friends for the Lye Valley hard at work

Building a temporary bridge (Photo courtesy of Alan Allport, Friends of the Trap Grounds)

Removing a rusting chassis from Heron Swamp

Plenty of hawthorn to clear so the grass can be mown later

Raking the North fen (courtesy J Webb)

Tea break (courtesy J Webb)

Banded General Soldierfly (Stratiomys potamida) (courtesy J Webb)

The spire of St. Mary's church across the fields

Man With Balsam 1

Prize Specimen

A view across one of the six meadows

Finishing off the decking on the pedestrian bridge.

Logs laid down on the muddy areas of the path

Finishing off the decking on the bridge for the ponies.

Small Balsam - before

Small Balsam - after

Tea-time

Path before work - worn down by weather and motorbikes

Stone pitching 1 - A hole is dug (easier said than done in stony ground)

Stone pitching 2 - Hole is filled with stones with as few gaps as possible ("horizontal drystone walling")

Digging in the first foundation sleeper on one of the bridges

The bridging timbers countersunk for the coach screws that will fix them to the sleeper

The view across the fen

Rectory Farm Fields

Excavating fallen stones both sides of the wall

The wall is collapsing in places

It's a wrap! The dismantled chainlink fence

Unusually civilized arrangements for lunch

A very nicely hung gate

Mixing it up

Mixing team 2

"Like icing a cake"

Jubilee Fields & Long Meadow and a multiplicity of tasks

Replacing a sign #1

Replacing a sign #2

Building a barricade by the bird hide

The plan is to divert the footpath...

...so that birds have a space to nest close to the pond

Today we're clearing scrub from the fen.

Brambles and willow/hazel/birch regrowth is taking over in some areas...

...and shading out the fenland species.

Clearing scrub from the valley side to preserve the limestone grassland

Without intervention the whole valley side would progress to woodland...

... and the rare grassland flora would be lost

At Sunny Aston Rowant to plant Juniper

Juniper cuttings ready to plant out

Off to dig

The finished repair to the bird hide

Oxford Conversation Volunteers

Hanging out gloves to dry

Clearing the woodland ride at Sydlings Copse

Cleared path

And starting to clear the fen.

In Mary Sadler's Field: clearing the scrub that inhibits the heather

One of several piles of cut gorse with established heather in the middle distance to the right

heather to the left of the path, gorse to the right.

Today we're tackling a slope covered in a tangled mass of bramble, rose and thorn.

Photos from forty years ago show the slope covered in chalk grassland flora, but grazing sheep haven't been enough to stop the scrub invading.

So we're going to return the slope to the rare chalk grassland for which Aston Rowant is famous.

Holywell Cemetery, managed for wildlife...

...and a haven of tranquility for quiet contemplation.

Each mid-winter we clear some of the brambles between the memorials...

Jerry gets everyone's attention with some mince pies

Clearing reeds and reshaping the pond

Looks messy but will hopefully help the frogs and toads that use the ponds when breeding.

Planting shrubs to help protect the Kingfisher bank (Courtesy of Alan Allport, Friends of The Trap Grounds)

Tea break (Courtesy of Alan Allport, Friends of The Trap Grounds)

Tea break for some very wet volunteers

Raking up and removing cut vegetation

The hedge at the beginning of the day

Removing excess scrub

Dinner on the campfire

Today we're helping the Friends of the Trap Grounds once again.

The main lake is in danger of filling entirely with reeds, so we're clearing some out.

Testing the waters.

Today we're working in a beautiful chalk grassland coomb with a view

The rarer chalk grassland plants are being choked by Tor grass

Tor grass is unpalatable to livestock, so we're clearing it with grass hooks

Since our last visit the Kingfisher bank shuttering has been backfilled with earth...

... and an attractive pond excavated by digger.

The sides of the pond are however a bit regular and steep ...

Today we are helping to clear the pretty stream running through the Waterways wildlife corridor

A very good turnout from OCV and local residents

The stream has become clogged with vegetation ...

Today we're helping the friends of St. Mary's Field ...

... with raking the hay meadow

The hay is piled in the undergrowth, as habitat and hibernacula for reptiles, amphibians, mammals and invertebrates

Return to Ibstone to dig more Hawthorns and pull Ragwort

Tool talk

Orchids now over but still many flowers, like Wild Parsnip ...

Post Hole

Mick, don't look

Bucket with a view

We're helping the Friends build a Kingfisher bank

Area in front will be dug out to make a deep pond, the soil will be used to make a near vertical bank

Today's task is to put up temporary shuttering to support the soil until it has stabilised

The view ...

... and the chalk grassland meadow we are helping to conserve ...

... with common spotted orchid ...

The churchyard wall at lunchtime, with walnut tree

The back wall of the churchyard

Taking a well earned rest

Starting to rake the south fen

Snapping reeds on the south fen

Volunteers taking a break

Work on the first stretch of wall

First stretch of wall

Telegraph poles are remarkably heavy to carry...

...but luckily there are lots of OCVers here to move this one

In the foreground everyone is busy digging holes for posts. In the background four lucky volunteers are out on boats, pulling reeds

At the Grey Mare's Tail

The start point for our walk

That is the Grey Mare's Tail - it's a waterfall you see, not a tail.

The weather today looks less promising!

The first of several warnings

Striking out

Setting off

Our first view of Carrifran

The viewpoint

View from the hill above our hall

Near the hall

Our lovely abode is at the bottom right

Toad in the hole

Beginning of the day

Collapsed wall being dismantled and graded

OCV's task today is to restore this heap of stone to its former glory as a dry-stone wall

First job is to get rid of encroaching brambles

Next the stones are laid out by size - already things are looking more organised!

Planning the next visit

Starting the fire

Feeding the fire

Precarious positions #1

Pollarding a young willow

Cultivate + OCV = a volunteer army

Mulch ado

A watched pot never boils

A frosty and damp start

A barrier made from brash and a log pile for invertebrates

Building a new set of steps

Cutting up felled trees to create habitat piles

Preparing cut scrub for the bonfire

Alison on the horizon

Stapling on the netting

Missing hedgelayer?

Billhook in action

Neighbours enjoying a tasty snack

View from the Hill

Mick's in there somewhere

Happy scrub cutters

Barn camping

Dawn at the ranch

Celebrity woodsman Brian Williamson demonstrates the use of a billhook

Pick a billhook, any billhook...

Matt is starstruck

Equipped to round up lambs

Raking up the cut reeds on the South fen

We found this little fella (a cricket)

We also found evidence of other inhabitants

First fire of the season

Coppicing

Michelle creates the OCV version of the Olympic flame

Work under way on the wall

Mixing lime mortar

We had to cover the wall as we went along, because of the rain!

Raw materials #1: An overgrown path

Raw materials #2: Willow in need of pollarding

Raw materials #3: Hedging plants

Steps - Before

Steps - After

Path before

The sleeper walkway is important at Chilswell because the ground is very boggy

The task today is to renew the walkway, which has slipped over the years

This involves moving the heavy sleepers, and lots of mud

Measuring up our little bridge

A beautifully warm sunny lunch just before the heavens opened

Banging in the posts for the hand rail

Long reeds/sedge waiting to be cut back

A lovely advert for Wickes!

Wisely cutting in the few shaded areas

Public Enemy #1: Cirsium vulgare (Spear Thistle)

Public Enemy #2: Cirsium arvense (Creeping Thistle)

Thistle-clearers at work - large area already cleared

Wild swimming pool (Tumbling Bay, Botley)

Our fearless social secretary prepares to test the water

Michelle is not far behind

Pruning a tree in the lake, using a pole saw

Lydia does some pruning on an island in the lake

It was very green and lovely in this rare moment of sunshine

Our target - Ragwort

Fields full of ragwort

Third task at Standlake. Time to finish that bridge.

The biggest task remaining is to add some planks to walk on. These are wired onto the pipes.

On the other side, steps up to the bridge are needed

Admiring the rope bridge and slide at the Ranch

Pipework!

Chris cuts the pipe to the right length

Bonjour, Monsieur Courbet

Putting in a straining post

An old post that was levered out of the ground

This is the part of the lake that we are to bridge

We will be using these bits of old telegraph poles for uprights

And these old pipes to span the gap

These errant stones have escaped from the wall at Holywell

The escaping stones have left a gap in the boundary

Never fear, OCV volunteers are here! Lime mortar is mixed in buckets

Finishing the oak tree guard

Selection of stones is important

And digging a good trench is important too

First: place upright stones along path edge

Moving a sleeper towards its new home as a footbridge

Footbridge under construction

Putting in uprights for a hand rail

Coppicing the smaller trees to help increase biodiversity

Burning brash

A well deserved tea break under an unseasonally clear sky

Mug tree

One of the last bonfires of the season... sadly

Before coppicing

Bloody nose beetle

Bloody nose beetle

Coppicing the trees with the hazard tape!

Starting a fire without matches (okay, there had been a fire there during the week...)

Usually we have only one bonfire but this task we had not just one...

Bird hide construction

There was some rain, and some hail, but at least we got this rainbow

Some dramatic lighting at the end of the day

The 'elbow' in the revetment

marsh whorl snail, Vertigo antivertigo (marginally larger than a poppy seed)

The new OCV mini bus

Fen Anagallis tenell

Marsh helleborine

Fen flora

Duck decoy dog

Journeys start

Starting the walk up a hill

A well-worn path

Morning walk

River view

Dew pond requiring attention

Dew pond inspection

Digging a dew pond

The Ditch Pitching Gang

A beautifully pitched ditch

Fence destroyers take the old fence down

First straining post hole is ready

Attaching the wire

Sheep with lambs

Flock of sheep ready for foot trimming

Rounding up the sheep

Getting started on day 2

Smoothing the edges

Tim ponders

Hill End Totem Pole

Marking out for the new boardwalk

Sawing up the planks to the correct length

Marking out the steps

Sacrilege - I don't hold with these new fangled tea-making devices!

Fen edge after willow pollarding

Tea break

Frog spawn in the pond

Magpie

One of the rides

Volunteers at work early in the day

Coppice woodland

Where to put the mulch?

Collecting the mulch for the saplings

Helping some saplings along

Overgrown scrub alongside the pallisade fence at the start of the day

The new Triple-S kettle in action

Breakfast

Westonbirt in the morning

Yesterday's fire

To the Silk Wood...

Getting started

Watching a demo from Tim

Hedgelaying demonstration

A well-stobbed willow

Boardwalk anti-slip netting neatly patched

Wet volunteers

Getting out the bramble roots

Slightly damp BBQ

A tidy coppice stool

Fire

Coppicers at work

Clearing the area

Starting to dig

Fen raking - it's a drag!

Bench 1

Bench 2

First you have to dismantle the wall

Inigo pretending to fall in - we're not falling for it!

Pippa enjoys some of the picnic

Post tea-break petulance

Before - overgrown Red Kite viewing area

Steve in action

Digging up brambles is fun!

Waiting for the work to begin

The poles mark the planned course of the diverted stream

Unpacking the tools

Paul shows off Aston Rowant

Fixing a gate

Everyone hard at work

Making sure the post is perfectly straight

Attaching the wire

Admiring the moor fire-fighting equipment

Pegs... they're like mushrooms!

The OCV tea faerie tests his latest brew

Pipe-edging the duck decoy, now used to collect wildfowl to be ringed.

Putting in the posts

Tea break

Preparing the ground for the steps

Step creation in progress

Good progress

Preparing a hole for junipers

Juniper on chalk grassland

Completed hole containing cage for Juniper seedlings

Sheep hunting

Found them!

Sheep foot trimmers at work

Finishing off the bonfire

Bonfire in an Iron Age defensive ditch

Willows to coppice

A novel way to transport brush wood

Time for tea break

The beginnings of the bonfire

The bonfire is growing

Climbing Mount Fog

At the summit

Tea break

Where is jo?

Lunch time

Lunch time

Scrub clearance

Firewood from coppicing

The clearing after our coppicing

"Jew's Ear" mushrooms

Preparing hedgelaying binders

Building a cordwood stack

View from the Folly

The new tool shed?

After siding-up

One down....

Nathalie demonstrating the art of rake leaning like a true OCV veteran

Rise and shine (the sun, that is.... not an OCVer in sight)

Ready for work. Now where did those tools go?

Finishing the gate and dead-hedge

The pine candle was more popular than the camp fire!

Chilli cooking on the fire

Happy moonlit campers

Well earned lunch break

All members as welcome, Pippa included

We don't just build walls, we also build the ancient treasures of Egypt

Sand drawing - which species of tree is this?

Miranda digging a posthole

Looking down the fenceline to the sea

Checking the straightness of the post

The obligatory 'before' photo

Susan contemplates the task ahead

Where do we start?

The Tackley Heath Pond

Starting work

Tea time

The duck decoy

A duck's eye view of the decoy

Pollarding

Putting in uprights for new platform

Newly extended ponds ready for the wildlife to move in

Pond creation

Hard at work

OCV crack team of pond diggers, not put off by the scorching heat

Starting to extend the main pond, and create smaller ponds

Training from an expert

Sheep pedicures

The queue for free pedicures grows as word gets out

Select your sheep

Entrance to the wood

Carrying the tubes that have been removed

It was a very sunny day

How many OCVers does it take to build a stile?

Completed stile

Volunteers keen to start

The master class - see how easy it is...

The reason this is important

Starting a post hole

Post-bashing

Finishing off

Teamwork: Attaching the wire netting.

Finished boardwalk

Group photo

Sgwd-yr-Eira waterfall

Steep scramble on our walk

Completed stone pitched culvert

Completed culvert

Playing pass the pigs at the NT base camp

Barbeque time

Chopping firewood at the basecamp

Clearing rubble from the path ready for new scalpings

Some of the rubbish we collected

Habitat pile

A fine bonfire

Attacking the collapsed willows

Base camp

A bit of overstaffing?

Cutting back the smaller dogwood

Warming bonfire

At work on the quarry site

Michael hard at work at the fire site

Embers of the fire

The gang

Mutual support?

The state of affairs at the start of the day...

Beginning of the day as we started work

Roger, our warden for the task

Catherine from the Friends of the Trap Grounds

Tidying up the tools at the end of the day

Humph... not sure what this is?!?

Craig, our expert fire builder!

Our new OCV tree!

Putting the finishing touches to the hedge

Completed section of hedge

Lunch time

Jim's amazing dogs!

Multi-coloured sparklers

Lunch time leaf-gazing

The weather was glorious

We didn't cut these ones down

Starting work

Cutting back the undergrowth to make way for fritillaries

Habitat pile made from wood moved off the flood plain

The completed fence

Packing up behind the completed fence

Happy volunteers

Before our work

Gentian

Tea break

Ripping out the old fence netting

Chris and Jo preparing to strain wire

Monkey strainers in all their glory

Swanage Bay

Naomi in front of the wall before we started work

The essentials in life: tea and biscuits!

New post positioned by string line

Pro-fencing team work on new straining post!

Straining post complete, ready for wire.

Getting started

Fighting their way through the grass