After yesterday’s walk we visited the other bank of the River Thames to look closer at the large area of trees that had been cut down last month. The map above gives an idea of their location.

The area beyond the tumbledown picnic benches used to be trees.

This picture gives another view, with the piles of stacked tree trunks in the distance.

Tuckwells were granted permission to extract minerals in 1971 from a number of areas on Thrupp Farm, including the field called Nyatt [Area 5]. They excavated minerals from all the other areas but not Area 5. More recently they have been extracting minerals from Sutton Wick, south of Abingdon.

During an enquiry in 2019 their spokesperson said they still intended to extract minerals from Area 5 in future. The record of the discussion is at https://mycouncil.oxfordshire.gov.uk/mgAi.aspx?ID=20620. Local people wanted the area left undisturbed.

The area not only includes meadows and trees but also a small lake, all of which had become a habitat for wildlife.

Walking the Causeway between Abingdon and Culham Bridge I was amazed to see how the ditch has been dug out and bushes cleared.

There is a view both sides of the Causeway now.

For years litter from passing traffic has blown into the ditch and bushes. There is now a tidemark of torn plastic round the side of the field. Other plastic has blown across the field.

This picture was taken from near the old Culham Bridge, looking back towards Abingdon across a field of baled straw.

I remember once seeing straw bales made into an image like Stonehenge that got dubbed Strawhenge. These straw bales are just left in the hot sun where they were dropped. The air is still full of the dust of harvest and pollen. Two of the stones of the real Stonehenge are supposedly aligned with the sunrise on Summer Solstice, showing the great respect and veneration our distant ancestors had for the sun.