Last year there was a monthly picture report from Barton Fields. This year I hope to visit  Abbey Fishponds every month.

Abbey Fishponds is a local nature reserve managed by the Earth Trust. The main entrance is from the Radley Road. There are three other entrances, and houses surround the area.

A brook runs the length of the nature reserve. The area gets its name from the earthworks that people once thought damned the brook to create fish ponds.

I believe the brook is otherwise known as Radley Park Ditch, and begins its short journey to the River Thames above Radley College. It is culverted for a short way before Radley Road and reappears in Abbey Fishponds.

There are two paths that cross in the middle. One follows the brook from northwest to south east. The other cuts across and joins the Radley Road opposite St Peters Drive. Another small stream from that direction ends in the brook.

There are also a number of ponds – some permanent and some seasonal. January is wet and the main path is very muddy at the moment, and almost a pond itself.

The main areas are meadow, reedbeds, sedge beds and woodland.

There are piles of wood, left to rot, where some of the trees had been recently cut. On the logs I a blackbird, and a robin pecking for bugs in the wood.