Frog, gone

Poor dead frog, lying belly-up in the pond. Last Spring the pond was teeming with frogs and full of frog spawn.

Shortly after, in June last year, Curt began to dig through the builders' rubble to build a bigger pond.

We were persuaded that the new pond would help wildlife because the wetland, as it had established itself, dried up, not completely but quite a lot, every summer.

This new pond, Curt told us, would be much better for frogs.

It is possible that this would have been the case had certain members of the parish council been hell-bent on creating a park out of what is, or was, a wild area.

Poor dead frog.

Niki.

Eddie

Eddie, a Jack Russell, mostly white, went missing from 70 Cedar Road this morning. He lives witht the builder there, who thinks Eddie escaped into the garden and over the Field to the Copse. I looked all round the Copse just now, 10. If you see him, can you take him back to the builder at no 70. I'll try to find out a contact number for him.
Niki.

Fire in the Copse

Robin took some photos and a film of the fire yesterday, 14th March.

He says it was set in the early afternoon and burned for some time before the fire brigade could get to it.

This was predicted last summer by Julia, me and Andrew. Curt said at the time, he was against a viewing platform. TOE did not fund it: you and I did!!

The police visited the site later and said that it should not be replaced and that much of the twigs and branches left elsewhere in the copse were also a fire hazard. Today I found an exhausted Lynx container along with some scraps of burned paper, probably used to set the fire. Or maybe educational books were being burned and it was just bad luck the platform cought too?

Why didn't the Parish Council listen to people who know the area before doing all this work?

Niki.

Meeting on Tuesday 15th March at Brookes

Come and join a Candlelit walk over the Field to a meeting at Brookes!

Meet at Louie Memorial Field carpark at 7.15

Friends of Louie Memorial Field and Copse are having a
celebration of the area on Tuesday 15th March at 7.30 pm at
Brookes Harcourt Hill campus.

Listen and talk to local experts on biodiversity, sports, local history etc.

Refreshments will be provided.

Transport will be provided from Louie Memorial Field carpark
for those who cannot walk or drive. Or go to the sports centre at the top of Harcourt Hill - directions will be posted at the entrance.

Speakers include Stuart McCarroll of Brookes Sports, Ag McKeith who writes about local history in the Sprout, Riki Therivel who can tell us about sustainability and local projects and John Thompson of the Oxford Forest group.

What a skatepark might look like

Ann Berkeley (North Hinksey Parish Council's Parks Department Expert who is advising the Parish Council on how to develop Louie Memorial Field) suggested that the skatepark in Abingdon was excellent and that one similar would look very nice plonked down in our open space - some people beg to differ. Many people think Louie Memorial Field is entirely the wrong place for this sort of construction and that a new skatebowl, where the old one was, would be popular and uncontroversial.

This picture is taken from the Abingdon skaters blog at http://www.abingdonblog.co.uk/

Google map of Louie Memorial Field

Google shows how the Field was cut in two by Arnold's Way.

The narrow triangular part of the Field which borders onto Lime Road, opposite Sycamore Road, used to be allotments.

• The woodland part of the Field used to include part of Hutchcombe Copse but that was sold by the Parish Council some time ago.

The small white smudge towards the bottom right of the Field is the old skatebowl.

Lost tortoiseshell and white cat called Bean

You may have seen the poster about a lost cat or have been visited by its worried owners but if not then please keep your eyes skinned for

Bean, tortoiseshell with a white bib. With a green collar. Very affectionate.

Bean is new to the area and was let out for the first time this Sunday. She was seen again at about 10 am on Sunday, so just before the rugby on the Field. Did you go to the rugby and see Bean maybe?

Do you have a shed or garage? If so please look for her in them. She may have been hurt and hidden herself in your garden so please look.

Her address is 31 Chestnut Road.
Her numbers are 247285 and 07941565783
Her owners are Thomas and Ilaria.
Please contact them if you have seen, or think you have seen Bean.