Friends of Lye Valley

ADVANCED NOTICE We will no longer be posting to this account after 31st December 2024. We have already moved to where the Sky is Blue. We'd love it if you joined us there! Same user name as here. #OxfordshireFens #RarePlants #GreenSpace #Sunset

For our last post on this site (see Pinned Tweet), we leave you with this view down the Valley from this morning shortly after sunrise. We'd like to thank you all for your support and interest in the past, and wish you all a peaceful New Year.

@StevenW33436788 @judyweb32049878 @BSBIbotany @TVERC1 This! The magic trilogy of scything, raking, and Marsh Lousewort!

@friendlyevalley @judyweb32049878 @BSBIbotany @TVERC1 Wonder what the Lousewort will make space for too.

Bog Pimpernel (Anagallis tenella) is more common in the west, but Scarce in Oxon. Ours reappeared from the seedbank after we started our #FenRestoration work, and removed the tall dense reed that had been there since at least the 1940s when grazing ceased. #WildFlowerHour #SSSI

ADVANCED NOTICE We will no longer be posting to this account after 31st December 2024. We have already moved to where the Sky is Blue. We'd love it if you joined us there! Same user name as here. #OxfordshireFens #RarePlants #GreenSpace #Sunset

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it, and Season's Greetings to those who don't! Much too mild today for snow, so here's a photo from the archive.

@StevenW33436788 @UpperThamesBC @savebutterflies @TVERC1 @judyweb32049878 Should have added that although the majority were on Blackthorn, a number were on Cherry Plum, and a couple on another Prunus species.

@friendlyevalley @UpperThamesBC @savebutterflies @TVERC1 @judyweb32049878 Presumably all on Blackthorn? How do you manage for them?

A bumper year for the Vulnerable Brown Hairstreak (Thecla betulae) butterfly here in the Valley. A recent search yielded an amazing 51 eggs, edging close to the record 58 from 4 years ago!

@StevenW33436788 @UpperThamesBC @savebutterflies @TVERC1 @judyweb32049878 The old stuff is laid regularly when we get round to it, and we put in several hundred whips a few years ago...

We spread the last of our Marsh Lousewort (Pedicularis palustris) this week in an area of the SSSI where we're trying to reduce dense rush (Juncus spp.). If you want to learn more about how this plant helps in #FenRestoration, see freshwaterhabitats.b-cdn.net/app/uploads/20… #OxfordshireFens

Today's news from @DefraGovUK of imminent ban on neonics is very welcome, and congrats to @SteveReedMP & Minister Emma Hardy MP for taking this long-overdue step It's essential no so-called "emergency" authorisations are granted before the law changes! bbc.com/news/articles/…

@StevenW33436788 @judyweb32049878 This area is "relatively" dry, compared to many areas in the Valley Steven. The rakers really love being able to collect material at this time of year just after it's been cut. If left, and rained on, it's a nightmare...

@friendlyevalley @judyweb32049878 I imagine it's tough going being wet and cloggy. Heavy work for rakers up too.

Our scything team are making great progress in cutting the old vegetation on the #SSSI fen. Just as well since they've got the next two weeks off for Christmas and New Year! #OxfordshireFens

Great initiative from the City & County Council and Thames Water. Free water butts for households in the catchment area for the storm drain that goes into the Lye Valley. Aim is to reduce flooding, and the volume of water getting to the Lye Valley Brook where it damages our peat.

To celebrate the brief appearance of the sun today, here's an archive photo of the Lye Valley with a winter sunset for your enjoyment. 😊 #OxfordshireFens #landscape #sunset

Long-stalked Yellow-sedge (Carex lepidocarpa) is widespread, though less common in the south, and is a rare plant in Oxon. We're one of the few sites where it thrives. We've been digging up clumps where it does particularly well, and moving them nearer the boardwalk. #Fens

Parts of the east side of the Valley are slowly drying out. Here we're embedding boards into the fen to try to keep what water we do have on the fen. We're hoping to get a grant to buy enough boards to do this the whole length of the east side. Fingers crossed! #OxfordshireFens

It's the Loosestrife Lady! We spotted some Purple Loosestrife seed heads which hadn't been collected, and which were in an area about to be scythed off. Needless to say, they were harvested! #OxfordshireFens #WasteNotWantNot

Very little storm damage in the Lye Valley thankfully, though this Crack Willow has lost a limb. Fortunately, it just missed an area where we'd just planted the nationally Rare Creeping Marshwort (Helosciadium repens)! #StormDarragh

Another busy week for our volunteers. Having cleared the #SSSI fen on the east side, we're making good progress on the west side. Here scything an area ready to be spread with the last of our hemi-parasitic Marsh Lousewort to weaken the reed and rush. #OxfordshireFens

Scything and raking have reinvigorated the Valley. By reducing tall, dense reed, we've brought so many rare and threatened plants back, some recorded in the mid 17th century. Here, one of our most skilled scythers is working on the east side of the Valley.