Four Goodgymmers Ian, Nick, Rob and Stu, along with new signing Perin, welcome Perin, went to help Project River Soar with clearing Floating Pennywort from the canal through Aylestone Meadows nature reserve. Paddle boarders Amy, Helen and Luke were picking every piece of pennywort and bringing it to the bank where we moved it away from the water along the towpath. A single leaf can quickly grow back into a new mat of stems and leaves that cover the waters surface and get tangled up with watercraft (which breaks bits off, they float down stream and form new mats of weed). It's been expanding very fast in the recent heatwaves. We also collected a bag of litter, and removed a lot of Himalayan Balsam, another non-native plant that is taking over along the waterway. Amy was great at explaining what we were doing and why, and what a difference we were making by clearing the plants away.