Three grants since 2020 totalling £21,622
During the first Covid lockdown many people discovered lovely places close to home and the Hinksey Heights Nature Trail on the west side of Oxford was one of these previously little-known gems. The nature trail winds along a wooden valley through which a stream flows, bordered by a rare alkaline fen making it a hotspot for wildlife.
At the start, the team of volunteers aimed to relieve winter flooding on parts of the trail and replace sections of dilapidated boardwalk. Thanks to the grants from TOE and other sources including crowd-funding, much of this has been successfully completed. Although the team are following a policy of gradual replacement of unnecessary boardwalk stretches with sustainable surface treatments, significant lengths of path across wetland areas will need to be traversed via boardwalk sections.
Grants fund the materials and all the practical work is carried out by the volunteers. They believe the key to their success has been ensuring that all volunteers are updated in real time with images of the work that has been completed, enabling everyone to share the achievements of individual work parties.
They also recommend that all local groups build in social time to a work-party day (ie a drink and chips in the pub afterwards!) to build volunteer cohesion and loyalty to the project.
Our visit to the trail in April 2024
In April 2024, we took a trip to Hinkey Heights to check in on the progress of the boardwalk restoration, as well as the nature regeneration taking pace in the beautiful surrounding woodlands and waterways.
A volunteer, Mark, kindly gave us a tour of the trail. He shared that the volunteers had used the grants to buy new, more durable material for the boardwalks to ensure accessibility and safety for all who wish to enjoy its hidden magic. This durable material also ensures that the boardwalks won’t need replacing again for a considerable amount of time, limiting the use of resources.
Mark also explained how volunteers are working to restore large areas of alkaline fen; a distinctive habitat with a short, open structure made up of low-growing grasses, rushes and sedges, and a diversity of wetland wildflowers, growing over mats of colourful mosses. This vegetation greatly aids in absorbing excess water, and therefore acts as an excellent natural flood defence system. This is greatly needed in this part of Oxfordshire, which is particularly prone to flooding. Read more about this here.
Thank you to Hinksey Heights Nature Trail for having us!