Big Weekend Forecast for Abingdon

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Big Weekend
Saturday 17th June is the day when the residents and businesses of Ock Street elect a mock mayor for the next year… The results of the election can be heard some time after 4:15pm outside the Brewery Tap. The new Mayor is then paraded down Ock Street. Throughout the day morris dancing can be seen in and near the town centre, and down Ock Street.

Also on Saturday is the Trinity Church Fair from 10 to 12:30, and the St Edmunds School Fair 12:30 – 15:30.
Big Weekend
And on Sunday the great get together in honour of Jo Cox takes place at St Ethelwold’s House 12:00 to 3:00.

Flood protection wall at St Helen’s Mill

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Flood protection wall
Work on the flood alleviation scheme at St Helen’s Mill in Abingdon has begun. A low wall alongside the River Ock is being built to protect the ground floor flats. The work is partly paid for by the district council, and organised by the Environment Agency.
Flood protection wall
Water from the River Ock has reached as far as St Helen’s Mill on a number of occasions, and in 2007 the floods surrounded the building. Since then the little bridge has been removed as it was thought to impede the flow, and St Helen’s Mill was tanked a few feet under the ground and about a meter above.

June Flowers

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June Flowers
There are lots of June flowers among the grasses of Barton Fields alongside the Sustrans Cycle Way. Somebody has put in equidistant stakes in the ground as part of a butterfly counting study – the email address is Exeter University.
June Flowers
The area has been looked after by the Abingdon Naturalists’ Society since 1999. Their website says “97% of our lowland native wildflower meadows have disappeared since the 1950’s which has sent many of our wild bee and butterflies dependent upon them into a steep decline.
June Flowers
So we began our native wildflower meadow restoration at Barton Fields in 2009 to aid their recovery.“
June Flowers
Nearby, clumps of brambles are in flower, and they too attract a lot of bees
June Flowers
and butterflies.

New Estates seen from the Dog Walking field off the Drayton Road

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New Estates
This evening, I walked round the dog walking field between Masefield Crescent and the Drayton Road. Looking down from the top of the field, the remaining cooling towers of Didcot ‘A’ Power Station are visible through a clearing in the trees – made for the entrance of the new Morland Gardens estate.
New Estates
On the west side, the wind blows across a field of barley – wave after wave.
New Estates
The south facing field has a crop of rape seed, and not far beyond, next to the village of Drayton, another new housing estate is being built.
New Estates
The new Morland Gardens estate is now the home for quite a few people, and houses are going up, out of sight, at the far end of this ex-horse-grazing field.
New Estates
The new estate is separated by a wall from Virginia Way and Lucca Drive so the older and new estates are kept separate. New residents cannot just cut through on foot.