Landfilling at the Sutton Wick site was completed in 2005. Commercial waste lorries used to drive round and up the incline, full of rubbish, and come back empty. Signs round the site have the letters EX – explosive atmosphere.

The area was approximately 120,000 m² and the methane and carbon dioxide flow, produced by bacteria decomposing the waste, was initially expected to be 300 m³ per hour.

Planning permission was granted in 2005 for an electricity generating plant. The only worry at the time was whether it would be noisy. There is a sighing sound every few minutes like letting off steam.

Trees were planted as part of the landscaping, and the land was left to wildlife. I saw a lot of ragwort and teasel when visiting this evening, and rabbits chasing each other

The footpath round the site starts at Peep-o-Day Lane and goes to Drayton. Most of the land is out of bounds, behind barbed-wire topped fences.

There is also a lake with some wildfowl but without public access.

Electricity transmission lines from Didcot Power Station pass overhead. The skyline no longer has the large cooling towers of Didcot ‘A’ Power Station. They have been demolished since the last time I wrote about this nature reserve.

Three plots in the centre of Abingdon have been created for Edible Abingdon by Abingdon Carbon Cutters. The prime site is in the Abbey Gardens.

The sunflowers there are not only stunning, their seeds give us good fats, vitamins and nutrients.

Chard is a shiny green vegetable that can be eaten in salads or stir fried.

In the second Edible Abingdon plot, by the open air swimming pool, the plants include Climbing French Beans.

The third plot, by Old Station House, has plants grown in rectangular recycle boxes. These boxes were used for recycling waste in Abingdon before the green wheelie bins.

The weather today was changeable.  We went for a walk out to Radley Lakes and took the anti-clockwise route. The first view of Thrupp Lake, during a shower, looked a bit like the Amazon.

Back in 2007, I watched the battle of Radley Lakes. It was between campaigners, and security guards with face masks. A lot of trees were cut down in preparation for filling the lake with ash from Didcot Power Station.

The campaigners won and that never happened. Trees are growing back and creating new mini islands.

Another Radley Lake, that did get filled with ash, is full of trees that are now ten to fifteen years old.

In another fifty years the trees could take over Thrupp Lake as well.

The Vale of White Horse District Council sent out a press release last week to remind residents not to contaminate their green recycling bin with rubbish.

The recycling crew check the top of the green wheelie bin, and sometimes slap a sticker on it and leave it unemptied. (The truck-load could be rejected at the recycling centre if any rubbish got noticed there.)

In the Vale of White Horse District – two weeks ago, out of 63,000 bins, 2,211 got a contamination sticker:
* Black bags/coloured bags – 1078
* Food – 331
* Textiles – 206
* Other – 596

We have two bins in our kitchen, one recyclable, and one not. When I transfer the recyclable bin to the green bin, I sometimes notice a jay cloth and put it in the black wheelie bin. On other occasions I save a glass jar and put it in the green wheelie bin.

The local cycle route – called the Hanson Way – runs from Oxford to Didcot via Abingdon and is part of Sustrans national route 5 which stretches 381 miles from Reading to North Wales. The work to upgrade part of the cycle route between Sutton Courtney and Abingdon is now complete and fully reopened.

The cycleway is now wider and smoother and free from overhanging trees. There are also bright spots in the tarmac which will make it safer when cycling in the dark.

It is a safer route for cycles than the roads, and is a more direct cycle route, than the roads, between Abingdon and Milton Park – where many people work, and from Abingdon to Didcot train station – for people who cycle and commute to London.