32 GoodGymers have supported Friends of Lye Valley with 2 tasks.
Wednesday 12th April 2023
Written by Anwen Greenaway
When one of the first things you find on a litter pick is a loo seat you know it's going to be an interesting one. Sure enough, we could have filled our sacks at least 10 times over with the amount of rubbish dumped along the sides of the Lye Valley SSSI. It's clearly a favourite dumping ground, with a whole loo, bike frames, football boots, an umbrella, electric blanket, CD player, paint tins, broken glass, oilcans, hub caps, and a steam cleaner all part of our haul. Of course, there were also the usual suspects of food and drink wrappers too. Usually litter picking is quite a satisfying task. It was great to see the area looking better after our work, but really very sad to see that such a special place is treated with so little respect.
Congratulations on reaching the 10 Good Deed milestone Axelle!
Wednesday 26th May 2021
Written by Anwen Greenaway
The Lye Valley is a very rare environment: a wet area, fed by lime-rich springs along the valley walls. It is home to many unusual plants and is also abundant in wildlife. The importance of this area has led to the designation of two Sites of Special Scientific Interest, the North and South Fens, which are protected by national legislation. You can find out more about Lye Valley here.
The Friends of Lye Valley have weekly work parties tackling conservation and maintenance tasks, but there are areas along the edges of the valley which are hot-spots for litter and tipping and they have not been able to tackle the problem with the numbers of helpers available to them. A month or so ago we received an SOS call from the Friends of Lye Valley requesting that we help them out by undertaking a litter picking blitz along the sides of the valley. The areas in question are earmarked for habitat improvement later in the year, and so it was becoming urgent to clear up the worst of the litter before the vegetation got too high.
Although it can be icky, a litter pick is a strangely satisfying activity, so we're always happy to arrange a litter picking flash mob!
Divide and conquer is our USP at the moment, so we split into 3 teams heading off in different directions:
If you haven't quite had your fill of litter picking yet this spring Ben will be leading a litter pick along Binsey Lane in West Oxford on 5th June. You can sign up here. It's technically part of the OxClean Spring Clean, but really it's all about replenishing our stock of golf balls.
Welcome Rebecca and Vanessa - glad you could join us for the first time!
See here for more info on the Aston Eyot Badger vaccination program which we briefly discussed at the end of the litter pick.