GoodGym Barnet – Barnet Climate Action Week tiny forest Barnet

A beautiful day to get together at Mutton Brook as part of Barnet Climate Action Week, combining a little practical work, citizen science and a chance to introduce more people to our local Tiny Forests.

Starting at 11am, Richard and Subhamboth local residents, were already on site and quickly got stuck into some litter picking after a chat about the four Tiny Forests.

The original Tiny Forest is now well established, but the three newer forests have endured a brutal summer and are showing signs of stress, with some struggling trees and plenty of weeds.

These three forests are particularly interesting because each has a different soil preparation method. Looking up the slope, the middle plot uses biochar, the right-hand plot follows the standard Miyawaki method, and the left-hand plot uses a simpler, no-dig approach incorporating cardboard. On general inspection, the middle biochar forest appears to be showing the strongest growth, although proper measurements will tell us more. Victoria said Yes lots of fun. Like high school science class again haha!

’innovative approach to growing trees with the help of biochar was recently featured on BBC Countryfile at Blenheim Palace on 1 February 2026. You can find out more on BBC iPlayer.https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002qwy0

Roman & Victoria were both new to the Tiny Forest project and got stuck into our citizen science work, identifying trees, recording their positions along a transect and measuring their diameters. This helps us monitor growth and understand their potential for carbon capture. We’ll share the data with Earthwatch and hopefully continue these measurements over the coming months.

It was also a lovely opportunity to chat about our local community and the wider work GoodGym gets involved with, supporting green spaces, community groups and projects that encourage people to get outdoors and take practical action.

And, as has become something of a GoodGym tradition, we rounded things off with a little frisbee throwing and a runaround for anyone who fancied it!

A big thank you to everyone who came along. A lovely mix of practical volunteering, learning something new and enjoying our local green spaces together. That’s what GoodGym is all about!

Over two days, GoodGym volunteers joined Earthwatch at Mutton Brook to investigate how Barnet’s four Tiny Forests are developing.

The oldest forest, now four years old, is tall and healthy but it has already lived through some remarkable conditions. The UK first exceeded 40°C in 2022, 2025 became our warmest summer on record, and London is experiencing increasingly frequent periods of extreme heat and dry soil. These forests are becoming valuable living experiments in how young urban woodland copes with a changing climate.

On the second day, a great turnout meant we completed the required belt transects across all four forests. Along each straight line, we measured every tree growing within half a metre on either side, creating a one-metre-wide sample. Repeating this process in future years will show how quickly the trees are growing and allow Earthwatch to estimate how much carbon they are storing.

We also managed some valuable weeding, reducing competition for water before the welcome rain arrived. in particular, thank you to Patrick and Abdellah

Among the three newer forests, the middle one where the ground was prepared with biochar appears to be faring better than those on either side. That is only an observation for now, but the measurements will help reveal whether that difference continues. This is exactly what makes the site so interesting.

Thank you to Grace, Earthwatch and everyone who came along. We hope to hold regular sessions with GoodGym and the Friends group, so come and help us follow the story of these trees as it unfolds.

Goodgym went along to the Mutton Brook Tiny Forests to help with a day of citizen science data collection. Environmental NGO Earthwatch hold these events at regular intervals at their Tiny Forests to gather lots of data to measure the impact that these urban mini forests are having on the environment. We got stuck into the job, literally and metaphorically, by diving into the Tiny Forest and measuring the height and girth of trees along a straight line. These measurements of random trees gives scientists an idea of how much carbon is being captured by all the trees as they grow. Each Tiny Forest contains about 600 trees planted densely together, so they grow very quickly to provide all the benefits of a forest (carbon capture, habitat for wildlife, cooling) but in a small space, perfect for urban environments. We were provided with plenty of refreshments and had a great time helping the local community and Earthwatch make the most of their data gathering day!

What started as a gentle walk around Stephens House & Gardens turned into an exciting look at the future of GoodGym Barnet.

Daniel and I met up with Jiji Fay, who has recently joined GoodGym as part of an exciting national programme to help introduce more young people to everything GoodGym has to offer. It’s a brilliant initiative, and we’re looking forward to helping it grow here in Barnet.

Our first stop was Stephens House & Gardens – one of Barnet’s hidden gems. This beautiful 10-acre park is cared for largely by volunteers and receives no regular council funding, relying instead on donations, the café and income from the House. GoodGym volunteers regularly lend a hand here throughout the year, helping keep this special place looking its best.

From there we strolled down to our three Tiny Forests, where we chatted about citizen science, biodiversity and how these little woodlands are becoming a hub for people of all ages who are interested in nature and sustainability. They’re a wonderful example of what communities can achieve when people come together.

Of course, we also talked about what makes GoodGym so special. It’s not just about running (or walking!); it’s about meeting great people, improving your wellbeing, discovering local projects, giving back to your community and having fun along the way.

We’re really excited to work with Jiji to inspire more younger people to join the GoodGym family. Here’s to growing an even bigger, more diverse team of volunteers making a positive difference across Barnet—one step at a time.

The Tiny Forest signpost and QR code needed to be switched around so that visitors could properly take part in the citizen science activities.

One of the Tree Keepers, Patrick, and I took the necessary tools down to the site and swapped the signs over. Thanks to Patrick’s help, we got the whole job completed pretty swiftly.

The QR code is now ready to use, so please consider visiting the Tiny Forest and taking part in some citizen science. Simply scan the code and follow one of the activities.

It’s a great way for children and families to explore nature during the summer holidays while also contributing useful information about how the Tiny Forest is developing.

Five goodgymers went along to help the local community with citizen science activities at the Tiny Forests near Mutton Brook. There are four Tiny Forests there now, and there is a lot of work to do: litter picking, tree measuring, and various other experiments.

London Climate Action Week could not have come at a more appropriate time, with the whole of Europe baking under record high temperatures. And tree cover in urban areas is a hot topic, as we all battle to keep our cities livable in this new normal.

So it was great to see local citizens caring for their local forest cover: 2,400 trees planted by the community since 2022, with the help of environmental NGO Earthwatch.

Tiny Forests are densely packed areas of tree cover, planted using the now-famous Miyawaki method . The tree cover is all native species and they are ideal for urban environments, where space is at a premium.

We all got busy with different tasks, while enjoying the sight of butterflies and bees coming to feast on the flowers growing alongside the trees.

Looking forward to the next event at the Tiny Forests!