GoodGym Ealing got involved in multiple new projects and events centred around nature and wildlife in our borough. After working on creating a suitable accommodation for fantastic and reliable Eurasian engineers (beavers!) that are going to settle in Paradise Fields, today we visited another location managed by Ealing Wildlife Group. Costons Lane Nature Reserve, established in May 2022, could be called "Waterworld". There was a marshland, a pond, and a neighbouring sewer. Luckily, no water from the skies (yet!). Most of us took the event organisers' warning (seriously, bring wellies) too lightheartedly. Caroline, who welcomed us to the reserve, glanced at our footwear and knew she would struggle with finding suitable tasks for us.

Harvey, Sevan and Kash ran from Osterley Park, where they volunteered at Harvey's 200th parkrun. Wow! You can guess they have been wearing running shoes. That immediately disqualified them from attending the most valuable activities like building the complex irrigation system to provide habitats for aquatic creatures. Thien, who cycled to the task, didn't bring wellies, neither did Judy. Only Lionel didn't disappoint on the preparation front - he came with his wellies and the tools to fix the hide at the reserve!

In case you didn't know: today was the day Lionel made a big comeback to GoodGym sessions after laying low for a while. Costons Lane was too close to his home to allow for any excuses! Despite having only a short walk to the task, Lionel took the most physically demanding task of shovelling the mud to transform one big pond into smaller ponds. Bringing wellies with you gets you involved in a kind of project like Palm Islands in Dubai - but better! Maybe the scale of Costons Lane is smaller, but it is beneficial for the wildlife.

For the GoodGymers without wellies, Caroline found different tasks. Judy and Sevan collected the bird feeders and refilled them with fresh food. Harvey, together with Lionel, started by fixing the hide. It seemed like there wasn't much to do for Thien and Kash - then an unexpected sapling delivery arrived! Thien had a chance to plant her first tree while filling the gaps in the newly created hedge. Interestingly, they kept finding rubbish in the muddy soil (Caroline warned them about that) and the roots and stems of the previous tree saplings drowned in the mud. Hopefully, the swamp gods will be more merciful for the young trees the GoodGymers have planted today.

The last task was to fish out duckweed from the pond. Judy and Sevan carefully plunged their nets into the murky waters, not sure what monsters they could be poking. Kraken? Cthulhu? Then, a magical word pierced the still air.

BISCUITS.

Sevan's eyes lit up immediately. We could see that even through his shaded glasses and knew it was the call to finish for today and head to the patio in front of the brightly coloured tool container. Biscuits, tea and coffee were served and volunteers' satisfaction doubled. After some small talk in the sunshine, we went our separate ways to have lunch, and for some of us, reconvene at a Slow Ways walk in the afternoon.