Paint Abingdon Pink Exhibition

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Paint Abingdon Pink is returning to Abingdon Market Place on Saturday, 4th July 2026, from 10am to 3pm. The annual fundraising event, which has been running since 2009, raises awareness and vital funds for breast cancer research by Abingdon based Charity: Against Breast Cancer.

Ahead of this year’s event, and running until July 5th in the attic gallery, there is a pink exhibition at the Abingdon County Hall Museum.

One display presents a timeline of the annual pink festival in Abingdon from its beginnings in October 2009 through to 2025. It highlights key moments, including the move to a virtual format during 2020 and the change of name from Splash of Pink to Paint Abingdon Pink.

Students from Abingdon & Witney College have been involved designing a new logo for the event. Their entries, together with details of the ideas and inspiration form a central part of the exhibition.

Alongside the displays are a variety of artefacts from past events, including the shop display trophy, costumes, and community artwork, including handprints created during last year’s Paint Abingdon Pink.

A tree by Abingdon Library

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It has been raining pine cones near Abingdon Library. The cones are scattered near the base of a neighbouring tree, while others have rolled into the road.

Some have rolled or been kicked down the underpass.

The winged seeds beneath the scales are released when conditions are right. If a cone falls before all its seeds have been released, it can continue opening and shedding seeds on the ground. This evening it began to rain. I remembered from school days that pine cones open when they are dry and close when they are damp. The cones had not closed yet.

There is not much chance, however, for any seeds from the cones that rolled down the underpass. But stranger things have happened. Somebody may pick one up, shake out the seeds and plant them.

Abbey Millstream Through the Year: May 2026

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At the end of what has been a very warm half-term week for late May, the Millstream has lots of wildlife. There were lots of ducks and a couple of swans with no young, but I have concentrated on the birds with young, as well as insects and flowers to be seen along its banks and on the water.

This female mallard has a single duckling. It is still small and fluffy, with brown-and-yellow down.

This type of bird is sometimes referred to as a “manky mallard”, a disrespectful name sometimes given to domestic ducks that have hybridised with wild mallards. They frequently show varied plumage, such as the dark brown and black feathers seen on the duck.

There have been lots of Yellow Iris beside the Millstream during May. As the month comes to a close, some of the flowers are fading and beginning to form seed pods. They are found on the margins of slow-moving water, and the Millstream flows particularly slowly because of fallen trees and growing reed beds.

This juvenile Moorhen has disproportionately large feet, which help it walk on floating vegetation. Moorhens are normally quite shy, but this one clambered onto the bank near me, tweeting, with no adult moorhen in sight. I think it is the same bird I saw a few days later nibbling water weed above the weir, again without an adult in sight.

In various places along the Millstream are Yellow Water Lilies. They have yellow, cup-shaped flowers, which bloom a few inches above the water. Their large floating leaves are disc or heart-shaped.

Damselflies can be seen in great numbers among the reeds and water lilies. I slipped into the stream just after taking this picture. The water only came up to my calves, but I did lose my glasses for a couple of minutes before spotting an arm sticking through the surface.

A family of Canada Geese regularly travels up and down the Millstream.

There’s lot of Blackberry blossom near or beside the Millstream, attracting lots of bees. This honey bee is carrying pollen on its hind legs.

I also saw this butterfly on the blackberry blossom. It may be a Large Skipper, although it did not seem particularly large.

Local Excellence Market

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The Local Excellence Market enjoyed a sunny day on Abingdon Market Place. I made a short video from the County Hall roof, looking down on visitors browsing the stalls, meeting local makers and stopping for refreshments.

There was ice cream on offer from Tipple and Snow, made from Oxfordshire organic milk.

Visitors could also relax at tables outside the usual Market Place cafés.

The plant stall was popular as people tried to add some colour to their gardens.

Among those exhibiting was local artist Clare Cross, who had her new Abingdon Bag, decorated with local landmarks in silhouette.

Clare also had her ‘A–Z of Abingdon’ design. She has also produced an A–Z of Wallingford and is now working on the A–Z of Oxford.

Seeing Clare’s A–Z reminded me that I once put together my own A–Z of Abingdon on Instagram, using a different letter each day. Unfortunately Instagram insists on displaying the posts in reverse chronological order, so A–Z appears as a Z–A. You can still find it on my Instagram page if you don’t mind reading backwards through the alphabet https://www.instagram.com/abingdonblog/ and peculiarities of Instagram like being forced to sign in.