This morning Katie, Vicky and myself ambled to Boundary Brook Nature Reserve (which is nearly 2000 miles from Istanbul) to ramble and scramble around raking up brambles. Unfortunately nobody there was called Campbell, but that's enough of a preamble.

We were let in by our friend Helen Edwards, the Reserve's Chair, who used a strimmer with a deadly bladed attachment to cut down the brambles at the northern end of the site. We didn't dare go near it, as risking our fingers would have been too much of a gamble. Once the brambles were down the area was in shambles, so we raked it all up and threw it on the compost heap, which soon grew so big that Helen had to climb on top of it and give it a good trample. The work was easier than it looked; in fact the time flowed by like the River Hamble.

Now what else rhymes with bramble? Jamble? Plamble? No... well I guess that's the end of the report then.

PS: See pics for before & after photos and Helen's 100% plant-based hat.

Boundary Brook Nature Park on a warm and sunny October Saturday. Helen hosted and we were joined by Lucy and Andrew who volunteer at the nature park. Andrew trapezes (is that a verb?) in Flo Park. Always interesting people and high fliers at GG Oxford. Two tasks were on offer. Lucy and Andrew raked and tidied some recently mown meadow while Helen and I dug up overgrown sedge around a pond to let the light back in. We also felled a willow tree. It was one of those really satisfying "before and after" tasks.

It is always such a treat to be back at Boundary Brook Nature Reserve. Helen always find us varied jobs to do and today was no exception.

We literally made hay whilst the sun shone.

A few helped with sycthing the meadow and the rest of us raked up the hay and trundled it to the ajoining allotments to be used by the plot-holders.

Along the way we avoided ant hills and wasps nests, teasle prickles and I was in awe of Megan and her ability to shift mounds of hay single-handedly!!

Katie and I debated whether we would be tip-top medieval peasants or whether we would be tried as witches.........

A glorious morning.

Today we ventured back to Boundary Brook Nature Reserve. Lovely Helen always comes up with unique jobs for us to do and today was no exception. Earlier in the week an Early Years sessions had resulted in a popped beanbag covering a large area in THOUSANDS of teeny tiny polystyrene balls. At first glance the ground looked like it was covered in blossom or snow. Undettered we set to work, trying to preserve as much of the gravel as possible. I must admit that it was slightly meditative but i think ill be seeing those little pellets in my dreams!

Another species that has taken hold was big clumps of sedge. Of left this plant can be very invasive so Vicky and Muireann dug out loads of it, filling 4 wheelbarrows - STRONG ❤❤

Particular highlights of the task were mostly dodging the rain, a visit from Meg (and Dylan) and being tolerated by Mr Bojingles (the cat).

Today was a milestone in my life: my first Goodgym task as leader! We were at Boundary Brook Nature Reserve to dig up bramble roots and clean up litter.

Taking charge like a born leader, I said to the team: "Helen from the Nature Reserve knows what needs doing. Do what she says."

What needed doing was to dig up all the plant roots from the plot the Nature Reserve staff are preparing. In a pleasant surprise, the area had already been dug nicely with a rotavator and the expected bramble roots were almost all gone. This made life a lot easier for Anja, Steve and Joe, although Joe still got to show off with a mattock.

Less pleasant and not at all surprising was the amount of litter people had thrown over the fence, which Muireann and I picked out of the brambles. There were also a wheel and a saddle from a bicycle embedded in the mud- I am starting to believe that this is where bikes come from, and that they grow out of the ground like potatoes.

The most surprising thing was... the giant moth. You weren't expecting that were you? Neither were we, but local artist Mani had constructed one to hang in the trees. So Muireann and I, along with non-Goodgym volunteer Fred, helped Mani to assemble and position the moth in a flying pose. Eventually the tree branches and Ivy will grow through the frame to create a seamless moth-shaped part of the landscape.

All in all, a productive morning:

Roots dug up: lots Rubbish collected: loads Giant moths assembled: 1

And for us yesterday evening that included:

• bike tyres
• buckets
• an old garden fork
• window frames
• storage drawers
• household rubbish
• wine bottles and of course PANTS!

Returning to Boundary Brook is always a joy. This time we were tasked with litter picking the edges of the nature reserve, both inside and out. It is frankly bonkers what we find on litter picks.....

After an hour and a bit we had amassed a mountain of litter ready for the council to collect, and fortified by cherries (thanks Trevor) we set off into the sunny evening for our run.

Good work team!!