Sophie, Viv, Gillian, Angela and Georgeta joined me this evening to walk 2.5km to an SSSI near Bray Marina, where the rare Pennyroyal plant makes its home.

Our task was to pull up invasive thistles, and also Ragwort, which makes the land unsafe for some grazing animals.

The grazing animals we were expecting were on holiday (apparently being tested for TB) and it seemed like they might have moo-ved our for a while, as the site was very overgrown...

...which might not have been what our Nature Bureau task owner expected, but it did mean the field looked really beautiful, wildflowers (including the Pennyroyal thankfully) were thriving and there were many happy minibeasts around.

The thistles and ragwort were fairly stubborn, probably thanks to the hot weather and dry ground, but armed with special thistle removal tools, we removed enough to create a couple of big heaps.

We also found that although there were loads of thistles, there wasn't much Ragwort. Perhaps thanks to GoodGym's efforts Ragwort pulling last year?

This site is always a lovely place to help out on a Summer's evening. We hope to return again in August, so keep a look out for more listings like this(tle) one!

We all know that GoodGym are huge fangs of puns and tonight’s task was no exception. After a nice run and walk GoodGym members arrived with their bat-packs ready to get muddy. We met our task owner, Kristina at Queen’s Eyot to learn about Pennyroyal a plant growing on a local SSI (Sites of Special Scientific Interest) and in one of only three echo-location, location locations in the country. The Pennyroyal needs protecting and our task tonight was to pull up ragwort and thistles to enable it to continue to thrive. Kristina treated us to a fang-tastic lesson about bats before we got started. We learnt that there are 18 species of bats i(17 of them breeding) in the UK) and each one has a distinctive series of sound waves which can be used to track them. Fangs very much Kristina!

Acro-bat-ics were then needed to scale the gate at the entrance to the field (with approval from our task owner) but once we were inside there was certainly no winging it. After a quick lesson in plant identification (and what should definitely not be eaten) Georgeta got straight to work pulling up the younger ragwort. Emily, Jenni and Amy were not winging it with their huge collections of ragwort and Sophie, Claire, and Louise were definitely not hanging around either. Amanda and Mandy went to the different edges of the field and were helped by another volunteer Katie. We found a number of wild and bat-iful orchids along with thousands of damsel flies - simply stunning!

It was great to see how the work GoodGym did last year to clear the field has really helped reduce the weeds this summer so everyone can give themselves a huge bat on the back. GoodGym - we really are bat-ter together!

Well done to the 9 GoodGymers who joined me on this beautifully sunny evening for our group run and walk to the SSSI on grazing land near Bray Lake. It was particularly great to see Marli and Lena return for their second good deeds and to welcome back Georgeta from her travels. Kudos to Anita for walking nearly 4km to the start location and three cheers for Anna, who came for the first time in a few weeks despite tired legs following running an epic 35 miles at Endure24 on the weekend.

We had the full range of GoodGym's 'run, walk, cycle' mantra represented on our 2km route out this evening. Thanks to Anita and Rachel, who led the walkers. I led the runners and enjoyed chatting to Lena, Gillian, Anna and Georgeta along the way. Meanwhile Diya and Kanika were on their bikes doing an awesome job as a cross between cheerleaders and sheep dogs, cycling back and forth along the route to make sure we were all going the right way and still smiling.

On arrival at the the task location, we took in the minty aroma of the rare Pennyroyal plant we had come to help conserve, greeted the very vocal 'bouncer' cow and nearly persuaded Anita to climb over the gate before it was opened by super strong Kanika. Then we met task owner Kristina, who was very pleased to have some company having worked hard on the task solo for much of the afternoon.

We had two tasks to tackle this evening, so we divided roughly into two teams. Anna, Rachel, Diya, and Georgeta tackled mulch removal (our fourth session on this task), piling previously cut brambles into a hippo bag and ferrying them to a bigger mulch heap in the adjacent field. Lena, Marli, Gillian and I focused on pulling up Ragwort, which threatens to crowd out the Pennyroyal if left to spread. Kanika and Anita helped on both tasks.

Both jobs gave us a decent work out and a good sense of job satisfaction. After an hour we had significantly reduced the mulch heap, significantly increased the Ragwort heap, enjoyed more chatting, and soaked up lots of fresh air and vitamin D - great work team!

Kanika and Diya then headed for home on their bikes, while Anita, Rachel, Marli and Lena walked the same route back to Bray. The runners took a slightly longer route back via the Thames path, which was looking gorgeous in the midsummer evening light. Thanks to Gillian for showing us a new route so we didn't need to re-trace our steps.

Next week we are off to Cookham Dean to dismantle a shed. Can't wait! Click here to sign up...

Another GoodGym task, set in the fields of sunny Bray.

The GoodGym herd of Amy, Shelia, Anita and myself, turned up, along with 6 moo starters.

Sadly the moo starters spent most of the task chewing the grass.

After a small mishap of the missing task instructor, Amy popped along to Little Muddy Me Preschool, for a loan of supplies.

Once back, we could start to log the task and branch out a bit.

All under the watchful eye of the moo starters.

We had to move a heap of brambles and thorns, from one field to another, so not a good idea to forget your gardening gloves.

With the moo starters now taking an interest in us, we had to tread carefully moving the bags of brambles.

Inside the brambles, Amy managed to find a frog, which was let back into the wild but not before signing up for the next GoodGym task.

Five bags later and a light rain shower, with the cows gone, we managed to complete moving the heap.

This was all to help manage the ecology in this 'Site of Special Scientific Interest' so that the rare Pennyroyal plant can continue to grow and thrive.

To finish off we even managed a litter picking exercise.

Well done all and another thoroughly enjoyable thorny task.

This evenings group run saw 11 GoodGymmers enthusiastically set off from Bray High Street to our destination at the grazing land near Bray Lake. Amy, Georgeta, Rachel, Rhi, and new member Harriet took set off running while Jen led the walking group of Jess, Diya, Kanika and another new member Kate. Welcome Harriet and Kate! Along the lanes and over the bridge they all went on one of the longer run/walk on #wednesdaynightisgoodgymnight.

At the grazing site we were met by the task owner Kristina and a big pile of scrub. The group got stuck in loading up the prickly (a few 'ouch' sounds bore witness to it) brambles into large bags to carry over and dump on the other side of the creek. While the group was busy loading, carrying and dumping, a herd of cows got very interested in the proceedings and decided to get a closer look. Some cow whispering by Georgeta and Kate was needed to stop them from getting too interested in the group's backpacks.

The pile this side went down as the pile that side went up. Some 22 hippo bags worth of scrub* was moved by the group.

Amy wanted the group to do a plank, but by then the cows had decided they'd had enough human company for the day. So off we went away from their grazing land. As soon as we were safe, we were hit by the plank!

Then runners took off running and walkers took off walking and chatting, back to our meeting point to wrap up a very satisfying mission. There's a return mission planned for Tuesday 24 May - sign up here if you're keen to help or just want to see the cows! The session is listed from 9am-4pm but you are welcome to stop by anytime you're free during the day.

*No frogs were harmed in the completion of this mission. Rhi made sure of that - evidence is in the photos.