THANK YOU to all who helped out at and attended our Spring Bring & Take on Saturday, and those who joined the Dawn Chorus walk with Dominic Woodfield first thing on Sunday morning.  A busy weekend in West Oxford!

At our Bring & Take, 1640 items switched hands (not counting all the clothes passed on via the Phil the Bag scheme), with over 330 people turning up to donate and collect items.  Add to this the 88 items swished by West Oxford Primary parents on Friday evening (thanks for the intel, Debbie Hall), and that takes to to a GRAND total of around 1730 items finding new homes in less than 48 hours.

In addition, West Oxford donated 6 bikes and two big bin bags of warm coats and jumpers to Asylum Welcome, as well as a large bag of tree guards to Oxford City Farm, and some (hopefully!) useful bits and bobs to the Children’s Allotment.

And I got a TAGINE!

THANK YOU TO OUR VOLUNTEERS (especially to Hugo for driving all the leftovers to Age Concern and Redbridge), and to Anna Pitt for coming along to run a Love Food Hate Waste stall.

And then… at a crazy time on Sunday morning, 15+ people joined ecologist Dominic Woodfield for an dawn bimble, as he guided them through the various bird voices that can be heard in our local area.  The group met at Kingfisher Corner, and heard the following species:

White throat; Willow warbler; Chiff chaff; Wren; Dunnock; Robin; Blackbird; Song Thrush; Blue tit; Great tit; Blackcap; Goldfinch; Crow; Buzzard; House Sparrow; Green woodpecker

The unexpected highlight of the walk seems to however been something which appeals to more earthy sensibilities, as many of the group got to sniff Otter spraint (aka poo).

THANK YOU to Dominic for donating his time and leading this free tour.  And if you missed it, and want to um, discover the jasmine-scented aroma that is Otter spraint – and hear some wonderful bird song of course -, there is another Dawn Chorus walk at the same time on Sunday 13 May.