Some of the work done by volunteers in 2023
Earlier work done by volunteers
2001 to 30 March 2015 April 2015 to December 2018 2019 to end 2021 2022
Earlier work done by volunteers
2001 to 30 March 2015 April 2015 to December 2018 2019 to end 2021 2022
14 September 2023 Oxford City Council Volunteers, including expert scythers, came to cut and rake the areas around the ponds. A small City Council mower gave some areas already cut by the large Council mower a further trim, which will help the wildflowers when they emerge in the spring.
3 September 2023 A beautiful sunny day for scything, raking, and hacking down excess vegetation in the pond area and the south-west perimeter of the park. Many thanks to the new volunteers who joined us today. Photos are here - click on the first photo to start the full-size slideshow, then click on the white 'i' at top right to reveal full caption/info. (Ignore 'Play highlights', top left - a recent addition. Many are eagerly awaiting the option to remove it.)
13 August 2023 More seed collecting and two discoveries by Judy to add to the Park's species list. Photos here.
7 May 2023 a large number of Oxford Conservation Volunteers came to help Friends of Milham Ford Nature Park with stream clearing and other maintenance work. Their hard work was much appreciated. Photos here
2 May 2023 See Judy Webb's tweet with photos of cowslips and bluebells in the park
More photos of the park taken on 1 May 2023 - with some dark clouds gathering - are here
29 January 2023 More scything and raking.
Richard Queralt, one of the expert scythers, brought along a delicious apple cake he'd made - much appreciated by everyone! Photos here (but, sadly, none of the cake - photographer, impressed by cake, and busy finding out ingredients used, found only a few crumbs left to capture). |
For previous volunteering events, click here
Judy Webb, the Friends of Milham Ford Nature Park volunteering coordinator, used to teach Biology at Milham Ford School, which previously occupied the buildings that are now an Oxford Brookes University campus.
In 2012 she produced a short history of the school. Among the photos Judy has included is one taken in 1996 showing pupils creating a second, clay-puddled, pond in the marshy area beside the tennis courts (Harberton Mead side). That pond can still be found today, as can the site of the first one, on the Jack Straw's Lane side, near the corner with Marston Road, after a lot of wet weather.
In 2012 she produced a short history of the school. Among the photos Judy has included is one taken in 1996 showing pupils creating a second, clay-puddled, pond in the marshy area beside the tennis courts (Harberton Mead side). That pond can still be found today, as can the site of the first one, on the Jack Straw's Lane side, near the corner with Marston Road, after a lot of wet weather.
Shrubs, trees, flowering plants, ferns and allies: a species list for the park compiled by Judy Webb following a survey she carried out on 23 June 2019.
Separate list for Dandelion Family: species found by Judy between 1 May 1999 and 5 June 2009
Bees found in the Park Fungi (2015) found in the Park
Hairy-footed flower bees in the Park These bees nest in holes in dry, sunny, banks, mounds or old walls. The males (one of them posed on Judy's finger) do not sting. Photos taken by Judy Webb in April 2014 are on Dropbox.
Aquatic vertebrates and invertebrates found in the park (2014)
Separate list for Dandelion Family: species found by Judy between 1 May 1999 and 5 June 2009
Bees found in the Park Fungi (2015) found in the Park
Hairy-footed flower bees in the Park These bees nest in holes in dry, sunny, banks, mounds or old walls. The males (one of them posed on Judy's finger) do not sting. Photos taken by Judy Webb in April 2014 are on Dropbox.
Aquatic vertebrates and invertebrates found in the park (2014)
IMPORTANT REQUESTS - PLEASE HELP PROTECT THE WILDLIFE
Please don't bring any FISH, FROGS or TOADS to the ponds. Fish eat the spawn of amphibians (frogs, toads) and the larvae of dragonflies, damselflies and broad-bodied chasers, as well as other small pond creatures. They also bring with them the risk of introducing ranavirosis, a disease that kills thousands of frogs each year.
Please don't bring any PLANTS to the ponds or park. What's an asset to your garden could be very bad for the ecology of the park, if it spreads.
Please don't allow DOGS to swim in the ponds. They churn up the mud, which coats the leaves of the pond plants and prevents them getting the sunshine they need to survive. The ponds need plants to create oxygen in the water for the pondlife. To prevent health risks and to preserve the flowers and fungi, please keep your dog on a lead so you can keep track of any 'deposits' and bag-and-bin them. (There are red bins for dog excrement.) Dog excrement adds nutrients to the soil making conditions more favourable for grass, which could then smother and kill off the wildflowers and the fungi.
Roundworm eggs in dogs' faeces can survive for up to 5 years in the soil. Ingesting even just small particles of soil contaminated by dog faeces can cause toxocariasis, which can lead to blindness, as with the toddler who fell in dog mess (click here) and a woman who had to have an eye removed 30 years after becoming infected (click here).
Please don't bring any FISH, FROGS or TOADS to the ponds. Fish eat the spawn of amphibians (frogs, toads) and the larvae of dragonflies, damselflies and broad-bodied chasers, as well as other small pond creatures. They also bring with them the risk of introducing ranavirosis, a disease that kills thousands of frogs each year.
Please don't bring any PLANTS to the ponds or park. What's an asset to your garden could be very bad for the ecology of the park, if it spreads.
Please don't allow DOGS to swim in the ponds. They churn up the mud, which coats the leaves of the pond plants and prevents them getting the sunshine they need to survive. The ponds need plants to create oxygen in the water for the pondlife. To prevent health risks and to preserve the flowers and fungi, please keep your dog on a lead so you can keep track of any 'deposits' and bag-and-bin them. (There are red bins for dog excrement.) Dog excrement adds nutrients to the soil making conditions more favourable for grass, which could then smother and kill off the wildflowers and the fungi.
Roundworm eggs in dogs' faeces can survive for up to 5 years in the soil. Ingesting even just small particles of soil contaminated by dog faeces can cause toxocariasis, which can lead to blindness, as with the toddler who fell in dog mess (click here) and a woman who had to have an eye removed 30 years after becoming infected (click here).
Planning Application 13/02630/FUL
Appeal against refusal by Oxford City Council of 2nd application for consent for housing development in Harberton Mead, close to the Park, DISMISSED on grounds of detrimental effect on low-density sylvan character of Headington Hill Conservation Area.
Appeal against refusal by Oxford City Council of 2nd application for consent for housing development in Harberton Mead, close to the Park, DISMISSED on grounds of detrimental effect on low-density sylvan character of Headington Hill Conservation Area.