Thanks @OxConservation for a great turn-out last Sunday in #LyeValley's South fen unit of the #SSSI. Autumn raking of all cuttings to piles & lots of marginal willow re-pollarding done. Even building of some woven willow & cuttings barriers to restrict loss of spring flow done🙌

Peat formed in a wetland over 1000s of years is an amazing & precious record of climate change & human activities nearby. Very pleased to again welcome staff & students from Oxford Brookes Uni to the #LyeValley #fen in Oxford to learn coring techniques & find out our site history

Lye Valley fen is the inspiration for a festival of #fen #peat and its special plants. See eventbrite.co.uk/e/102879183… for tickets & this poster for fun things going on Sat 19th Oct. in the valley & at the local Bullingdon Community Centre. Come & get creative with natural materials!

#LyeValley #fen #SSSI has a privately owned south section which @friendlyevalley manage by arrangement. We are just starting the autumn scything, raking, willow pollarding & seed collecting. Helmets are sensible as golf balls may fly overhead from the nearby golf course!

Sept is the time to check for #LyeValley #fen's smallest denizens; tiny Whorl snails, just over 1mm full grown. Searching the fen surface & waterlogged moss, we reckon we have here 1 Common Whorl snail Vertigo pygmaea & two Marsh Whorl snails Vertigo antivertigo. dinky beasts!

In #LyeValley #fen we celebrated our first toadstool of the year - a gorgeous fresh little Blackening Waxcap Hygrocybe conica (starts a red/orange jewel and then blackens later). Right next to this very strange object which is an egg cocoon of a Wasp Spider, laiden with dew..

In Oxford on Monday 23/09, the measure of total rainfall at Osney Lock was 100mm (midnight to midnight). What damage did deluge road run-off do in Lye Brook going through #LyeValley #fen & how did log dams & bank defences fare? there was some damage, water over the bridge.. 1/2

2/2 & some areas of defences were damaged, but not as bad as last year due to new bank protection designs. This area of 'blow-out' was repaired & bank defended using new hazel stakes & stronger hazel wand woven shuttering. The gap behind will be filled with cuttings packed down..

Working in #LyeValley #fen we were really pleased to see two sets of children from the local primary school on a field trip here, aiming to search for minibeasts. Hope they found plenty, we find picking seed heads always gives lots, like Ladybirds & Common Green Shieldbugs here

2/2 Bank repair & restoration in Lye Brook before the next rainstorm & to restrict loss of clean spring water to re-wet dry peat & store carbon & boost wetland biodiversity. Note our 2 young vols learning the art of weaving willow barriers to protect soft peat from the expert!

What's going on in #LyeValley #fen? lots of folk harvesting our willow sprouts & some dying ash from the head of the valley & heading down stream for an important session....but to do what? 1/2

I think some seed-heads can be pretty. Here in #LyeValley #fen we are onto collecting the seed of Parsley Water-dropwort Oenanthe lachenalii, a species rare in Oxon. After white flowers, the fruits develop an attractively red-maroon colour , before turning brown & ready to drop

If you are interested in birds to be seen in the #LyeValley area, Tom Bedford has another 50 copies of his bird report available to purchase. The link is on the @friendlyevalley website, but see if this works : outofthebluesky.co/?p=5881

#LyeValley nearly time for Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillars to finish eating willow-herbs (having achieved remarkable large size, thick as a finger ) & go to ground to pupate. Here both a green & darker form seen. Stunning fake eyes!

We have seen so few butterflies in #LyeValley this summer. Lucky then to spot this male Common Blue nectaring on mint, creep up & be allowed to achieve a couple of photos of the attractive underwing patterning. How did we get to the point where Common Blues are rare? .....

Whilst pulling more baby willows from #Lyevalley #fen we discovered we had one unusual plant of pure white-flowered Devil's-bit Scabious and this Hairy Shield bug sunning on some Wild Angelica seeds. Amazing what you find down in the vegetation!