Reclaiming

On the east side of the Thames in Oxford is Aston's Eyot, a 30-acre site that used to be a water meadow. ('Eyot' is Thames valley dialect for island (Old English 'ygett' (small island) from 'ieg' (island)))*. Since it was Oxford's rubbish dump from the early 20th century until the 1940s it is now two metres higher than in its water-meadow days, so when the Thames floods, the water breaches the opposite bank and threatens those of us who live on that side. After the war the site was briefly used as a rugby pitch but understandably abandoned 'due to problems caused to players by glass fragments rising through the surface'.

I went this afternoon via the entrance next to a noisy metal salvage yard - the rubbish dump's descendant. The eyot is home to myriad weeds wildflowers, many of which are so common that even I know their names, and includes several acres of nettles - labelled on the map produced by the devoted Friends of Aston's Eyot as 'Nettle Plain'. (Honestly - this is not a mountains of Oxford blip.) The Friends' devotion is actually quite touching. Their website includes: 'The vegetation has gradually developed so that the area has become a semi-natural wild area, with scrub predominating. Scrub is an under-represented habitat with the Oxford City Local Plan area.' and 'The Oxford Civic Society {suggested} that a conference centre and theatre/concert hall, plus associated car parking, should be built on the Eyot ... The whole area was described as "an old car dump", showing a certain insensitivity to the wildlife haven that isn't Metal Salvage's scrapyard!'.

I very briefly contemplated a blip of a delicate bramble flower in the late afternoon sun, some Oxford ragwort glowing yellow, or cow parsley from below against a bright blue sky, but thankfully the outskirts of eyot is doing battle with razor wire so I was back in my comfort zone.

*What an irresistible opportunity to put three brackets together.