Red T-shirts pulling ragwort from the dirt without getting hurt

After missing out in July, the GoodGym gang were back with the Friends of Ham Lands on Saturday morning for a very important mission: pulling ragwort from the ground. This is a plant that is very important to the overall biodiversity of the area, being popular with a lot of insect life, but is also toxic to some animals. Sharon gave us our instructions and explained which of the similar-looking plants we needed to pull and which to leave be. We then spread out across the area in twos and threes and soon enough piles of the yellow-flowered weeds were gathering around us. Many of the biggest patches of ragwort were surrounded by brambles and other spiky plants so those of us with covered legs waded in the deepest, trying to avoid scratches. But it was satisfying work as we found that a reasonable sized 'wort with a clump of soil on the roots is great for javelin practice - shame we just missed the Olympics...