The answer: lots of regular scything.

Last night we returned to Aston's Eyot to try to get some nettles under control. An area that we've worked on previously has been earmarked as a picnic/play/chill-out space. Unfortunately it is currently covered in nettles. To ready it for the council's tractor we scythed and cleared lots of nettles, sawed some low hanging branches - Joe discovering some pole-sawing skills - and collected the inevitable litter.

Another team were sent a little further along the river to deal with a fallen tree. A tree surgeon had done the heavy work but we needed to clear branches from a river-side flower area. Sawing up branches is quite the workout but chats about books was a good distraction!

Well done team! We'll be back in September for another go!

We LOVE a scything session!!

The weather was perfect last night for a meander through the Eyot and a spot of cleaning and clearing. After meeting Charlie and having a reminder of the safest way to carry and use the scythes, we strolled to the area that needed attention. Aston's Eyot has a lot of clearings which often get over grown by nettles. This prevents any other flora and fauna from getting established. After splitting into team-scythe and team-rake we got to work. Accompanied by the sounds of the "bumping" boat races and the sassy announcer (very stereotypical Oxford) we made short work of a large parch of nettles and lopped some low hanging branches for safety and to let more light in. It was a delightful task, full of chat about running, books, bakeries and hearing about adventures to New Zealand and Canada from Becky and Ellie!

Thank you for the report title Joe!

Scything is always a GoodGym favourite, and we had the perfect heatwave task this Wednesday of scything nettles in the shade of the woods at Aston's Eyot.

There are lots of muntjac deer who call Aston's Eyot home, and they eat their way through absolutely everything, leaving much reduced biodiversity. To try and counter this the Friends of Aston's Eyot are creating fenced areas throughout the nature reserve which the deer can't break into. In those areas the flora and fauna will have a chance to recover, increasing the variety of plant life, and providing food for a wider range of bugs and beasties. The next area to be fenced is within the woodland, but the nettles needed clearing before the Friends of Aston's Eyot could decide the exact outline of the protected area. Always happy to oblige, we scythed and raked away for an hour clearing a woodland glade ready for fencing.

Breakaway teams lopped low-hanging branches of some trees overhanging a pathway, pulled creeping thistle (prickly!), and re-scythed the young nettles starting to pop back up where we chopped them back earlier this year.

Welcome to GoodGym Maria!

We scythed up a storm at Aston's Eyot last night. Working our way along and beyond the fence we built last summer we cut a swathe through the nettles, raking them out as we went to let light get through and hopefully give some other plants a chance. Forming a scythe-rake-remove production line we were a pretty efficient work crew! Some veteran GoodGymers had their first go at scything, plus we were pleased to welcome 2 new GoodGymers to the crew: Welcome to GoodGym Weronika and Eleftherios.

Find the Friends of Aston's Eyot website here.

With light evenings comes the return of tasks in Oxford's green spaces, and one of our favourites is Aston's Eyot. Tucked between the Iffley Road and the river, the Eyot was a rubbish dump in the 19th Century, but it's now a thriving nature reserve managed by the Friends of Aston's Eyot.

Wednesday's task was nettle removal. Scything and pulling the nettles allows light to get through for wild flowers, and removing them reduces the richness of the soil, which wild flowers prefer. This should all help increase the biodiversity of the area. Scything is always a fan favourite at GoodGym, so there were plenty of volunteers for that task. Henry very competently assembled the new scythe, and Axelle did great work pruning back an elder tree which was getting a little thuggish. Some of the GoodGymers were lucky enough to spot 2 muntjac deer on the way home - it's always surprising and delightful how much nature can thrive yards from busy city streets.

Great work team!

Welcome to GoodGym Emma and Ines.

Last night was all about BOG creation on Aston's Eyot, with bonus tasks of scything and pond sculpting to keep us all happily occupied. (Make a bog, get 2 tasks free.) The Friends of Aston's Eyot are very proactive about habitat creation across the nature reserve. We've previously helped dig ponds, make boggy patches and built hibernaculums (hibernaculi?) in other areas of the Eyot. This time the pond and bog areas had already been dug by a digger - somewhat more efficient than by hand! - just leaving some finishing touches to be made by volunteers. The bog area had been lined already, just leaving the task of filling the soil back in on top. Luckily Trev and Henry had wellies on, which made wading around in swampy mud a lot easier for them, while the rest of the group shovelled and ferried soil from heap to bog. Our scythers, Axelle and Venetia cleared the nettles from the perimeter of the bog very efficiently, while the rest of us got artistic, sculpting/reprofiling the sides of the recently dug pond so that it has a shallow slope instead of a cliff edge into the water - better for frogs and other critters to get in and out.

Despite being up against the failing light we made good progress on all tasks. Great work team!

Welcome to GoodGym Kate and Jamie.