We went for a walk along the Thames Path beside Barton Fields. Some trees were down after last week’s storms. There was also the sound of chain saws from the Abingdon Science Park.

The Thames Path has a new board walk over what was once the most muddy place. New sign posts indicate the way.

A bit further on, at the place where lots of trees were cut two years ago, lots of baby trees have been planted. Maybe the new trees are better in some way.

Inside each tree shelter is a baby tree about half the size of the shelter.

A community mass tree planting will take place on Rye Farm Meadow this Saturday. The Vale of White Horse District Council have given permission for the planting of  420 baby ‘wild wood’ trees, given by the Woodland Trust. They include: pussy willow, downy birch, hawthorn, crab apple and hazel. The Abingdon Carbon Cutters have organised the event and want people to sign up and plant trees. For more information see https://abingdoncarboncutters.org.uk/event/tree-planting-at-rye-farm-meadow/.

Helen has the first litter pick of 2022 lined up. It is still a few weeks away and a lot can happen in that time but you can put it in your diary. There are some ad-hoc litter pickers who don’t wait for an organised litter pick to get litter picking so this post is more for those less ad-hoc litter pickers.

As to the litter droppers, stop dropping your litter on the ground, and stop dropping litter (including cigarette butts) out of your car. Put it in the bins provided and if they are overflowing then take it to the next bin, or take it home and drop it in the black or green wheeled bin.

There was a Town Centre community litter pick on Saturday morning when lots of volunteers helped and over 30 bags of waste were collected.

The Mayor of Abingdon Cllr Cheryl Briggs was there to help.

Nicole Jones, Waitrose Community Liaison officer, helped make it happen. Waitrose supplied refreshments and joined in the litter pick, and also made a generous donation towards much needed equipment.

Thankyou To Helen for letting me know. Helen is the founder of The AbiBinit! Community Litter Picking Group.

On Wednesday a walking group passed through Abingdon. They started in Zaragoza, Spain and will be finishing in Glasgow where the COP 26 Climate conference is taking place. The conference aims to unite the world to tackle climate change.

Last Saturday, neighbours from Compton Drive and Appleford Drive planted bulbs on the green at their junction. They have plans to adopt the green from the council and would like to put in some modest trees. This fits in with a VWHDC tree planting policy by residents.

On the subject of tackling climate change, the VWHDC (Vale of White Horse District Council) have joined a grouping of 100+ councils who believe tackling the climate emergency is a key priority.

Thanks to Tim, the Green Abingdon Town Crier, for the pictures.