St Ethelwold’s garden is open for all to find peace and inspiration. A display of pictures, inside St Ethelwold’s House, shows the garden over the last six decades.
Two volunteer gardeners were working today. In 2021, the gardeners introduced an irrigation system – more efficient than hosepipes – that other gardeners could copy.
Many flowers are blooming, making the garden popular with insects, particularly bumble bees and honey bees.
There are also flowers to feed butterflies.
There is an area for growing fruit and vegetables.
As you leave, you can take produce and seeds and magazines and leave a money donation. Cooking and eating apples are abundant at the end of August.
During the summer, information boards and seats have appeared around Radley Lakes. This information board and these seats are in Barton Fields.
The Radley Lakes area was farmland, which the railway passed through. From 1955 major gravel extraction began. Some of the pits filled with water, others were filled with fuel ash from Didcot power station and are now covered with trees and sedges. The Abingdon railway branch closed and became part of a national cycle path.
There are new seats with a view of the largest lake, Thrupp Lake.
How many sorts of bird can you see in this picture?
Swans were waterweed dipping nearby.
Coots were waterweed diving near the wooden walkway in one corner of Thrupp Lake. The surface is covered with feathers in this corner, or perhaps they are flying seeds.
In another corner a colony of water lilies bloomed.
On the other side of the national cycle path, Orchard Lake has dried up this summer.
You can see an adult heron and a young heron at the end of Orchard Lake. The other young flew off.
The swan uppers returned to Abingdon for the first time since 2019.
In 2020, there was no swan upping because of Covid restrictions.
In 2021, the five-day census of the River Thames’ swans was reduced to three days and did not reach Abingdon.
In 2022, the five-day census is back with a change. Record temperatures meant cygnets were examined in the boats with a lighter touch – to reduce the stress.
On Friday morning, the convoy of rowing boats and motorboats set off from Caversham for their final day, ending in Abingdon.
Some people at Abingdon Sailing Club kept an Abingdon family of two adults and eight cygnets feeding at the bank until the swan uppers were in sight.
The man steering the first skiff shouted ‘Swan Up!’ to indicate swans ahead. The uppers surrounded the swan family.
Seven of the cygnets were caught for examination. The adult swans were kept in a reasonably good mood.
But one cygnet got away. She/he was pursued by the Royal Swan motorboat downstream and across the river. Having escaped that chase, the cygnet returned to be near her/his parents, and the Royal Swan motorboat made another attempt. The cygnet made another dash through a flotilla of boats.
The examination of the seven other cygnets continued. Only after they were released did the chase for the final cygnet cease.
The swan uppers then rowed through Abingdon to Abingdon Bridge.
The swan uppers stood and turned to face the crowd on the bridge and toast the Queen.
The swan uppers then disembarked at Nags Head Island.
The family of swans went to one of their stops to forget their encounter with the Royal swan uppers.
Seven of the cygnets have a ring on their legs.
The Radley Lakes Trust organised a community event with cakes, nature activities, and music at Radley Lakes. I left my bike in good company and looked around.
The Abingdon Community Choir sang a song written specially by Helen Eccleston. It began: Come and spend a while down by the Lake
with a view to make you smile down by the Lake
…
The choir were followed by Trev Williams by the Lake.
The Radley Lakes Trust carried out a survey at their information stall by the Lake.
The Thrupp Lake cake stall also sold ice lollies on this hot afternoon.
The sun was out, and the blue sky was reflected in Thrupp Lake.
Nature activities by the Lake included plant identification with David Guyoncourt
and bird watching through a telescope with Ian Elkins
and Graham Bateman on the lookout for mini beasts.
