Sylva Trees built two Flora 2009 bridges from locally The increased light levels and the regular sourced and milled cutting of stinging nettles have wood to span encouraged plants to flourish. Fiddler’s Drain. This is Allotment Association heavily silted up and The pretty yellow when it fills it cuts off flowered Moneywort Cripley Island Orchard access to the island or Creeping Jenny is surging across the In ground. It was August flowering through May into June. John taught Another yellow flower is the us how Silverweed. View from Cripley Island to Port Meadow to ‘strip We have noted the Water mint with lilac willow’. col October our saw us cultivating the tumps and planting ed flowers, the pink flowered Water pepper along with other Polygoniums and the delicate blue flowered Water-Forget-me- not flourish. You may also see the Marsh Bedstraw with tiny white flowers. Among the larger plants is the Hemp nettle which Cripley Island is a small island adjacent to, a long leaved non-stinging nettle. and only accessible through, Cripley This is just a fraction of the plants on the Meadow Allotments. It became part of island. With the current management plan our Allotment lease to develop as an we should continue orchard in March 2009. We have £10,000 glades. The first fruit trees arrived. They to develop more of Big Lottery ‘Local Food’ funding for this. included trees native to like diversity of plants Cripley Island, like much of Cripley Eynsham Dumpling, Blenheim Orange, over this small area. Meadow, is surrounded by crack willow, Deddington Pippin, Eynsham Dumplin, most of which had not been pollarded for Bampton Fairing, North Aston Non Aynho For more decades. Fallen willows had damaged the Junction Pippin, Hanwell Souring, information banks and plots and blocked the Beauty, Oxford Conquest, Oxford Hoard www.cripleymeadow.org.uk watercourses in Fiddlers Drain, Fiddlers and Oxford Yeoman to name a few . and Stream. In 2009 the OCC Tree Officer decided and also harvest willow whips. Logs, bird Over 300hrs of member’s voluntary work which trees on the island were too and bee boxes will provide wildlife was logged up to September 2009. Most damaged and/or unsuitable and we paid habitats. of the early work was clearing rubbish and Tree Team to do the structures. work. This pollarding was the start of a We became members of the Mid Shires programme of regeneration by letting in Orchard the light to the island. The willows were Group in pollarded low so that we can help 2008. They maintain them. will support and supply the 70+ local fruit varieties which will help establish an orchard with local Here is James with some St Barnabas cultural ‘Green Warriors’ heritage. There were 3 Pollarded willows live hundreds of years old apple trees on the island, which we and are home to an impressive insect believe were planted by Fred Quartermain, population. The new light levels on the an allotment holder when he worked the island will now support the native trees island many years ago. Two were dead and new fruit. and will be left to drop. One is showing signs of life.

The Orchard will give Cripley Island a A large shed by Fiddler’s Stream which vibrant new lease of life. The managed, had previously attracted ‘residents’ was heritage orchard with native coppicing will be accessible to local schools for visits, and to the wider community on Apple and Orchard Open Days. St Clare’s, The Cherwell School and St Barnabas worked with us on the lottery bid. Developing Cripley Island Orchard is a commitment to We kept all the healthy native trees on the a sustainable future with consideration of island. As the orchard develops other the short, but green, route of fruit from trees, like hazel and birch, will be coppiced ’plot to pot’ and more diversity of wildlife removed. There was a seemingly endless on a 5/6 year cycle and harvested. We for many, many years. amount of log stacking and r aking of will use this wood for pea and bean sticks sprouting willow.