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From: 153 Spring 2021
Author: Julian Cooper
Hello everyone and many thanks to the Freemen for giving me the opportunity to introduce myself and my role in Port Meadow.
The Port Meadow Ranger sits within the remit of the Countryside Supervisor for the Parks and Opens Spaces Service. The role sees me responsible for the day to day management of the Meadow and working with the Graziers, Freemen, Commoners and all who value this unique landscape.
Over this past year the meadow has truly shown its value to the residents of Oxford and the surrounding areas. Its provided a safe green lung for so many over the Pandemic. Its been a joy to see families enjoying picnics along the river and so many taking the opportunity for recreation that the Meadow and river present. The look or bemusement and a slight sense of panic on many faces as picnics have been interrupted by horses and cattle will be something that stays with me for the rest of my career.
The huge influx of visitors did bring some very serious issues that had tragic consequences for two of the grazing animals. We lost one on Port Meadow and Charlie Gee on the Binsey side lost one. Both of these animals died as a result of eating rubbish left by visitors. The positive of this was we were able to launch a major campaign to highlight the risk of litter to the grazing stock and wildlife. We had coverage on the BBC TV and Radio, ITV news Oxford Mail and a large campaign on social media. All of which did see litter reduce from a high of 3 tons a day coming off the meadow. The summer has seen myself and the countryside team on the meadow more than any other year to engage, educate and where needed enforce. The vast majority of comments we were met with were hugely positive. During one of the easings over the summer we had support from many Oxford businesses. Hayley Simmons from Shaw Gibbs came up with the brilliant idea of green business networking. Numerous mornings of networking and litter picking followed. Another positive was the starting up of a Wolvercote and Walton Well Wombles facebook page. Initially it was focused on community litter picking, but has developed into a celebration of Port Meadow. I encourage you all to take a look. https://www.facebook.com/Wolvercote-and-walton-well-wombles-114035987047028
All of the above work has meant we have been able to ensure the Meadow is still very much a working landscape. Many thanks to the graziers who not only had to deal with the huge influx of visitors but also TB lockdown which at the beginning of the year threatened grazing over the summer. Many Thanks to Charlie Hanson who worked tirelessly to ensure grazing happened. It meant 4 roundups over the summer for TB testing. You’ll all be surprised to hear we got them in the pound at first attempt all 4 times! I am glad to say we had no reactors and having spoken to the graziers they all reported that the animals had done very well on Port Meadow over the summer.
All in all its been a challenging year. That said in the long history of the Meadow and the Freemen a mere dot. I very much look forward to a more normalised summer and hope to see you all for the Sheriffs Inspection. As ever many thanks to the Freemen for the constant support you’ve shown to me over the last 12 months and to the meadow for many generations.
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