Pick’s Field Project in Aston

Anna Dillon, the guest speaker at our AGM in April, is part of the core team behind the Aston Nature Recovery Project in Pick’s Field. This field is the north of the bridleway between Aston and Blewbury (see photo). It is part of Blewburton Hill, being on its south side. Anna told us the background to the project. It is named after the house of the people who own the five-hectare site. The team have a fiveyear plan to improve the biodiversity of the site and have obtained some funding from The Trust for Oxfordshire’s Environment (ToE).

There is a public footpath across the site which is good in that many people will enjoy the field, but it makes management hard. They are thinking about grazing at times with sheep (good for biodiversity) but the footpath will make this hard. Futhermore, dog faeces are a problem for sheep. Anna showed how their team had been around the field and identified over 40 pieces of dog poo which she had photographed and put into a picture. Amazingly, it seems to have prompted dog owners to be better at cleaning up after their dogs. They have already had working parties to remove privet which is invading the site and threatening the orchids which grow on the western part.

Anna showed some photos of the species found so far including pyramidal orchids, ant hills (where common lizards have been seen) , wasp spiders

and a nationally scarce weevil as well as a video of a barn owl hunting during the daytime. If you would like to know more about this project and keep up to date, visit the project website at https://www.theastons.net/environment/astons-nature-recovery-project People can keep up to date with events here: https://www.theastons.net/environment/astonsnature-recovery-project/astons-nature-recovery-project-our-blog Anna Dillon