Two Ealing GoodGymers, after enjoying cheering kids at Acton junior parkrun and drinking coffee with Hounslow friends, visited Trinity Way Tiny Forest for the October tree survey. The Earthwatch team called everyone local to the Tiny Forests to measure the height and stem diameter of various species to support tracking the forest's growth and estimating its carbon storage.

The scene Sevan and Kash encountered was quite different from previous visits. Overrun with weeds, the Tiny Forest appeared more chaotic and overgrown than during the last insect survey, making navigation and identifying the trees a challenge. Equipped with an app recommended by Earthwatch, the volunteers set out to survey tagged trees, including hollies, oaks, lime trees, beeches, birches, and privet plants. Trees neither Sevan nor Kash couldn’t identify by sight, the app consistently labelled them as "dicots," which raised suspicions about its accuracy.

Despite the challenges and the app’s quirks, the GoodGymers measured about 15 trees, though they lost count in the tangled landscape of plants. This data will aid scientists in monitoring the Tiny Forest’s growth and its potential to store carbon.

Next week, we are finishing the tree survey week with a visit to the Southall Tiny Forest - join us for an hour of citizen science!

It was the last day of Biodiversity Week and I didn't feel competent at all to run the wildlife survey session for my team in the Southall Tiny Forest later in the day. I believe that experience is the best teacher, so I decided to get up earlier on Sunday to run to Trinity Way Open Space in East Acton where I had been planting another Tiny Forest three months ago.

It was a nice 5 km run and I was lucky to dodge the rain which started just when I arrived to the Tiny Forest. I waited under a tree until the shower passed, then got my survey kit on my phone ready. I entered the mulched ring for an endurance trial certainly more difficult than all the running I was planning to do that day. The butterfly survey required me to sit or stand still for 15 minutes. Can you imagine: 15 minutes?! Spoiler: there were zero butterflies. Maybe it was the recent rain, maybe the time of the day before midday - but that was the data I collected: zero butterflies.

Next up, I did the pollinator survey. That one was time-boxed for 10 minutes which was another mammoth trial of patience for me. It was also more successful. No bumblebees or bees visited the patch I surveyed, but I recorded some flies, small insects and a ladybug.

I saved the best for the last: the ground dwellers count. Quick and easy. Find a paving slab, lift it, count woodlice, slugs, centipedes, worms, spiders, ants and other cute wonders of the underworld, record the number on the Tiny Forest website, submit the results and you're done! I enjoyed that survey the most and repeated it for several slabs at the site before I left.

The results didn't show much biodiversity in the Trinity Way Tiny Forest at the time, but given that it is just a baby forest, it probably doesn't have trees mature enough to produce flowers and rich soil to attract more worms. Hopefully with time it will contribute to developing diversity of local wildlife.

I certainly developed some confidence in surveying wildlife at the morning task and was ready to share the experience with friends at Southall Tiny Forest. But first, I had to do a 12 km run!

Unlike yesterday's Tiny Forest session in Southall, the Trinity Way Open Space planting event had a high chance of dodging the heavy rain. I took time off again and walked to the easternmost part of the Ealing Borough in lovely sunshine.

I didn't meet any of the Earthwatch people from yesterday - I bet they must have been knackered after the Southall planting (I was!). I recognised Divya, whom I met at the planting in Barnet two years ago, and met Hanna, Johna and other Earthwatchers.

The area where we were to plant the trees looked quite small because of its shape but apparently, it was the Tiny Forest standard 30 square meters. The kids from a local school already planted the first 100 trees. Hanna went to guide them back to school, and I was wondering how the children were going to show up to their lessons covered in mud.

I joined the 11:00 session and discovered that every other volunteer seemed to be from Microsoft. Despite Divya's trip to knock on the locals' doors to invite them to plant the Tiny Forest, we had only 12 corporate volunteers (soon to be The Dirty Dozen), and I was The 13th Warrior. After chatting with a couple of Earthwatch people, I stood there, feeling like a red can of Coca-Cola between two six-packs of Pepsi. I decided to help Divya clean the kiddos' spades.

Time for the briefing! It was quite a long speech, and I learned a few new things about the Tiny Forest, for example, that the oldest one in London, in Hammersmith Park, was planted in 2021, and the trees there are already taller than John from Earthwatch (who was the tallest person at the planting today!). Divya was very kind and mentioned me as a guest and gave GoodGym a shoutout. I think Barnet and Lewisham GoodGyms earned the reputation, but I hope Ealing will follow!

The Microsoft people and I got into the muddy pit with spades and got to work. The event was split into two, so I managed to plant only 30 trees this time, and hopefully left enough for the volunteers coming at 1 pm. We still had time till 12:30, so we started transferring some mulch onto the clay soil. It was quite a relaxing activity, compared to yesterday, as today I was distributing woodchip from small buckets around the trees.

I made the most of the sunny weather and caught just a little bit of rain on my way back home. Luckily, I dodged the hail storm that came later in the afternoon. I hope that the late session had already finished by then and no volunteers and no little trees were harmed.