I plan to report on the River Ock every month this year. This is the first report from a frosty Abingdon at around dawn on January 17th.

The Vale of the White Horse is the valley of the River Ock. The source of the River Ock is near the village of Little Coxwell, and it is joined by springs from the chalky hills where the White Horse is cut. The Ock meanders through agricultural land past Stanford in the Vale, through Charney Bassett and Garford. The Ock is joined by Sandford Brook, west of the A34 to Abingdon. Sandford Brook flows through Dry Sandford, Cothill and Gozzards Ford and near Marcham before joining the Ock. East of the A34, the River Ock is split into two channels near Tesco. They rejoin just before the River Ock joins the River Thames at Abingdon. Other streams and ditches split off, and join Sandford Brook and the River Ock, and help irrigate and flood the farmland.

From the Mill Road footbridge is a view of the River Ock and the flooded meadow near Tesco. From this point, the crane and building of the new hotel are visible beside Tesco.

Near here, ten common alder trees were planted on October 28th 2022, by church twinning and Abingdon Carbon Cutters, before the church twinning event on climate action in Abingdon.

The River Ock passes under the Drayton Road, at the Ock Bridge, as an upper and lower channel. The lower channel is pictured here. The Ock Bridge has been widened, and the older arch can be seen on this side. On the other side is a more modern rounded concrete arch.

The Ock Valley Walk begins here and is laid between the two channels. The path has not been flooded yet; only low-lying areas were flooded.

Many birds, including a woodpecker, could be heard at the town end of the walk. Birds rarely come as close as this one.

On the water were ducks, moorhens and a heron.

The water level at the town end of the Ock Valley Walk was high enough to cover the concrete wall where the upper and lower channels join.

I went for a walk along the River Ock to see if anybody had built a new bridge. It did not seem very likely but somebody had seen something on facebook and that is how rumor’s start. A bridge had been proposed when the brewery was redeveloped but the residents didn’t want it.

Somebody had been building a stick teepee.

There was a fallen tree, and some stepping trunk segments.
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Here are a couple of Muntjac, quite safe because there is no bridge.

Anyone walking the Ock Valley Walk between Drayton Road and St Helen’s Close this December will be struck by the number of yellow leaves still on the trees.

The path is muddy and despite wearing boots I got splattered.

The Ock Valley walk is between two streams that carry rain water and some sediment down from the Vale of White Horse.

The River Ock flows under the busy Drayton road through two main arches.

There are other arches which allow more water to flow during flooding. In 2007 even they were not enough. The water backed up and flooded the Drayton Road.

The rounded concrete on the far side is where the bridge was widened.

The water can flow from the upper to the lower stream at this mini weir – put in to protect Ock Street from floods.

At the lower end of the walk there are a lot of old tree trunks, left where they fell, or piled in damp heaps and covered in moss – a home for creepy crawlies.