This week we welcomed newbie Stefano on his first session with GoodGym 👋 before leading the way off to the Bushmead Community Hub where we were asked to prepare the front garden area for nature-friendly planting by the Wildlife Trust.

An area previously occupied by a large bush has been cleared and woodchipped but we had to relocate the woodchip around the existing planting and turn the exposed ground over ready for some easy planting by other volunteers later this week.

We had a great bunch of GoodGymers chatting merrily while working hard at getting this task done in good time. Enjoying the benefit of daylight for the first time on a group run this year we did a great job.

All that remained was a run back into town, with a quick stop in the park for a round of exercises from the fitness dice 🎲 🎲.

The rolls of the dice gave us the following:

90s of push-ups 90s of crunches 30s of squats and another 30s of push-ups to finish off the session.

Stefano you did great and it was a pleasure having you join us!

The four of us were just a little bit late to the task today as we had a bit of trouble locating the rest of the group. But after a few scenic and sunny detours we eventually saw smoke and the sound of saws in the distance and knew we had made it!

We got straight to work armed with loppers and saws, we tackled dense overhanging branches, and overgrowth helping let in more light and keeping the area in good condition.

It was a good long run out along the River Lea to Cowslip Meadow nature reserve, home to one of the springs that feeds the river.

There waiting for us was Konni from the Wildlife Trust, she had been helping a nature conservation task here last week and noticed some litter and dumped items that needed removing. One of the items was a chair in the river but leaving that until last we set to work with Sam and Omar clearing out the dumped mattress and other items.

Meanwhile David and Gill went to the opposite end of the reserve to tackle an unwanted non-native shrub going a bit wild, it was a very dense bush and it took quite a bit of pruning to even see the core of it, but get there we did. Eventually we found it was actually several different shrubs and defeated them all.

With a nice neat pile of cuttings made the two teams reunited for a final ten minutes of litter picking and commenced a search for the reported river chair! Searching along the dark riverbank by torchlight, hooked pole in hand, surrounded by tall riverside plants, it was difficult to find anything that looked like a chair. We searched and searched all the accessible bits of squishy riverbank until socks got wet and we had to declare the chair missing in action, its powers of camouflage clearly outsmarting us!

That just left the return run back into town to finish off the evening.

On a slightly chilly Sunday morning, three dedicated GoodGym members, including new member Derya on her first task, joined up with the Wildlife Trust at Blows Downs. We tackled the job of clearing scrubland, cutting back brambles, and undergrowth to support the conservation of the area.

The hilly terrain made it a bit of a challenge, but we all got stuck in and worked together to make a visible impact. It was great to see Derya involved in her first mission with such enthusiasm, and we’re excited to see her on future tasks. Well done to Omar too who despite initially getting lost finding the group quickly made up for lost time by single-handedly flattening a whole overgrown area in no time at all!

Rejoining the Luton and Dunstable Conservation Volunteers after a bit of an unintentional break we were working today on the Warden Hill Meadow, a grassland nature reserve on the edge of Luton.

Parts of the meadow had clumps of scrub tree growth, mostly hawthorn and blackthorn which is left unchecked would rapidly spread across the meadow.

We took saws and loppers to the clumps of scrub to reduce their size, leaving a landscape of grassland with a few trees dotted around. Perfect for ensuring that the grassland and the rare species that depend on it is preserved!

What a gorgeous Monday morning for getting out on the hillside and working with the conservation volunteers. Matt from BCN Wildlife Trust brought cake and thanked the crew for their ongoing efforts and contribution to the Wilder Futures project. Today we had the additional excitement of a two person contractor team with their chipper machine, and they worked steadily at sawing wood and scrub and feeding the machine with the cuttings. So next time at this site you will see a liberal application of woodchip along the pathways. Sam from Luton Borough Council Parks and myself were detailed to tidy up the stumps that were too chunky for the chipper as well as clearing a large quantity of bramble from clearing work at the corner of Fairford Avenue and Bushmead Road. A very satisfying task and a great start to a Goodgym week.