To celebrate World Habitats Day, Monika and JP from GG Richmond joined the Friends of Ham Lands for their regular monthly meet up to help preserve the beautiful habitats of the Ham lands which we are so lucky to have close to our homes.

Leader Sharon was there as always to brief the troops and we were assigned to litter picking alongside her while others went to different areas looking for litter or cutting back brambles.

In general, the people who enjoy the Ham Lands aren’t big time litter bugs - they don’t drop much rubbish on the open pathways, and many are conscientious enough to pick up what other people drop. But there is always litter to be found off the beaten path, so we went into the woods to seek out discarded trash.

Before too long we made substantial finds, in areas which might have been used for makeshift shelters or camps. Here we found large plastic sheets - the decomposing remains of bin liners - along with tobacco packaging, bottles, paper rubbish and even the rusting head of a discarded space (which itself proved useful in digging out rubbish which had started to be covered up and absorbed by the soil).

In the end we filled 3 bags and returned for tea and biscuits, to find more bags filled by the other volunteers. Seeing the amount we had collected together was very rewarding.

Next month’s mission is scheduled for Saturday 9th November - you can sign up here: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/helping-the-happy-ham-landers-863d2ee9-aa6d-4146-a9f0-c8c259d6ed76