In 2025, we’re hosting another photo collection on Instagram! This year’s Festival theme is ‘On the Wild Side’. We invite you to share your theme-inspired photos taken anywhere in the OX2 postcode area during 2025. Not just trees – any wildlife.

Follow this link to enter.

Annual General Meeting & talk – Right tree, right place
Our Annual General Meeting will take place on Thursday, 27 February 2025, from 19:30 in the Wolvercote Baptist Church Hall. The main business will be to receive and approve the report from the Chair and Tree Group accounts for the period 1 January to 31 December 2024, to appoint officers, and to discuss plans for the year. Follow the links below to download the agenda and reports.

– Notice of AGM & agenda
– Minutes of the 2024 AGM 

Talk – Right tree, right place

After the formal AGM business is concluded, we welcome Eddie Rixon, a fourth-generation farmer at Lopemede Farm, Thame. Eddie has dedicated the past decade to developing a long-term strategy that will transition his land from ryegrass monoculture to shelter belts and agroforestry, aiming for increased biodiversity, environmental sustainability, and economic viability.

We look forward to hearing more about this visionary initiative which marks a significant milestone in environmental conservation by ensuring the sustained restoration of the Floodplain Wetland Mosaic along the River Thame. 

All are welcome – Tree Group members or not.   

Apple Day

This has become a special date in our village calendar. Seeing the delight, curiosity and buzz of so many people, families, and friends chatting and enjoying all the activities and produce on offer makes the weeks of preparation worthwhile. It was another joyous day with around 580 visitors, so including all our wonderful volunteers, that would be over 600 people! Amazing to think our little orchard can cope with so many but it does and gives so much. The photo shows our Chair, John Winterbottom handing over the annual rent to Oxford Preservation Trust’s Louise Lockyer.
Thank you and well done to all our volunteers and supporters of the day! We are always aiming to improve the experience for all so if you have any helpful feedback we would welcome your thoughts.
After Apple Day there was still fruit on the trees. We took apples and quince to the local Food Hub in the White Hart Community pub through the rest of October, collecting the remaining fallers for a final juicing to boost stocks for the Yuletide Fayre (see below).

Tree felling in Baynham’s Meadow
In our July newsletter, we shared the news that many hybrid poplars, growing along the west bank of the Wolvercote Mill Stream in Baynham’s Meadow, had been felled. In late August, Tree Group committee members Jo, John and Val met Celia Meacham (University of Oxford Rural Estates Manager) and Nigel Fisher (Wytham Woods Conservator) with representatives of the Neighbourhood Forum and Commoners to share how the scale and speed of work, without prior notice, had concerned the community.
The meadows have SSSI status, awarded by Natural England, which attracts funding for their management and preservation. The poplars, approaching the end of their natural lives, had grown so tall that they were impacting the diversity of meadow plants (see the brighter green grass monoculture closer to the tree line in the photo). We saw that the loss of trees – less than the 90 predicted – hadn’t made a noticeable difference in the view towards the Mill site.
The work had to be done in a very narrow timeframe, between hay cutting and animal grazing, and when the ground was relatively dry, to avoid further damage to the surrounding ecosystems. Celia acknowledged that more could have been done to communicate what was happening and why. Due to the fragility of the site, it can’t be openly accessible. However, Nigel agreed to lead tours of the site, probably in June/July next year. We’ll let you know when more information becomes available.

Community Market Yuletide Fayre
Sunday 3 December 10:00 – 14:00

The Tree Group will have a stall at the Community Market seasonal fair selling apple juice and honey plus other homemade produce that we may have time to make! There will be plenty of stalls, music and dancing along with seasonal cheer so do come along.

Annual General Meeting – Thurs 29 February, Wolvercote Baptist Church Hall 19:30
Please put this date in your diary. We are hoping once again to combine this meeting with a talk. If you’re interested in joining the committee, contact John Winterbottom. Further details will be circulated in the New Year.

Orchard critters
We leave you with a little visual treat from some of the nocturnal visitors of the Community Orchard – https://wolvercotetreegroup.org/2023/10/23/orchard-wildlife-videos/

As you may know, a group of members have been surveying the wildlife of the orchard over the last two years starting with a wildflower survey in 2021 and 2022. We now have a comprehensive list of over 100 flowering herbaceous plants that flower through the different seasons in the orchard and our aim by the end of this year is to create an orchard wildlife page on the website with photos to aid identification.
We have found that the drought last year had a considerable effect on some of the plants which are not so tolerant of very dry periods so it would be good to see which ones reappear this year.
This is where you could help! Most of us have a wild flower book so if you are interested in contributing to our survey you can download the plant list here, take it on your visit to the orchard with your ID book and then tick the different species that you find in flower. If you keep the list through the year you can hand it in or email it to Jo Malden (orchard@wolvercotetreegroup.org ) or Doug Parr (douglas.parr@gmail.com) at the end of the 2023.

Our AGM will take place on Thursday 2 March 2023 in the Wolvercote Baptist Church Hall at 19:30 hrs. 

Film maker Zuleika Kingdon and producer Jacqui Doughty will tell us about a tree planting project in Uganda ‘The Rwenzori Rainmakers’ which they are documenting. Their story is one of a community tackling the climate crisis by restoring degraded land, creating diverse habitats for trees and animals. and transforming the lives of the local people. The talk and discussion will follow the main AGM business and should last no more than one hour.

The evening will be an engaging opportunity to learn more about the Tree Group, its projects and supported activities, and to socialise with friends and neighbours. We hope you will come along – bring your friends!

As we promised we have now planted the new hedge saplings along the back fence in the Wolvercote Community Orchard, protected with some guards from “repurposed” from under the A34 to hopefully deter the badgers and rabbits who do like to dig! They are getting plenty of water at present but we are keeping watch in case the furry visitors feel particularly mischievous and will need to keep an eye on them in the summer months to ensure they don’t dry out. The plants were chosen by Jo for their ability to attract pollinators and other wildlife.

When you visit the orchard do cast and eye and let us know if you feel anything is untoward.

Our latest tree planting project was to donate six apple saplings of different varieties to Fairclose Farm which were planted on Sunday 9th October 2022. Each tree was planted inside the zigzag fencing giving it some extra protection from the sheep. We will be able to watch these grow as we walk past the orchard.

They are planted in this order (walking away from the yard):
1: Reverend Wilkes
2: Ashmead’s Kernel
3: Blenheim Orange
4: King of the Pippins
5: Egremont Russet
6: Tom Putt

The group gave them a good soaking, and they will make sure they get watered regularly until we start getting some regular rain.

A fun afternoon for all the family to celebrate the humble Apple and Autumn harvest in the Wolvercote Community orchard. Lots of traditional games and crafts, apple tasting and sales of orchard fruit produce.

Reluctantly, we have had to close the Orchard from today (23rd August) to protect the crop for Apple Day in early October. Unfortunately, some of the trees have been stripped, and with the drought reducing the crop size we have decided to close earlier than normal.

Members of the Tree Group are still welcome to enter and take a few apples for their table, but please leave as much as possible as the apples provide the primary income for our group. Please contact one of the committee members for the lock combination.