Have I mentioned just how much I love having a dog at a task?!? ESPECIALLY when it is a visit from the glorious Juno (and Ben).

Back to the task in hand....

This morning we had a lovely hour at Rose Hill Community Centre weeding the Youth Club planters and generally sprucing up the growing area.

Thistles were removed, planters were watered, litter gathered up and Juno was fussed and we all had a lovely chat, setting the world to rights.

An excellent start to the weekend.

Well it HAD to be a Bonnie themed title didn't it?!?

On this historic evening we gathered at Magdalene wood - a beautiful patch of woodland but also a notorious litter grot-spot. Serving as a cut through between 2 areas it gets very mucky very often.

This evening was no exception. We found some massive areas of litter - the usual cans, bottles and fast good wrappers but also an area where some cats have been being fed (Anwen would approve, though not of the litter) and a huge stash of nitrous oxide cannisters.

We cleared up for an hour, filling 11 MASSIVE bags and reported everything into the council for collection. Amusingly Jacqui was asked if she was on community service......!!

We then headed out of the wood and with Henry's pin hole set up we managed to safely watch the eclipse! A pretty fascinating experience. The light really did go very strange and gloomy.

Thank you team for coming out in the hot hot heat!!

Mrs S has a large garden which she is no longer able to manage due to her health and mobility. After mowing the lawn on a previous visit, I returned to trim the shrubs and roses that border the lawn so that everything is looking neat and tidy and easy for Mrs S to manage.

A small but mighty team returned to Marston Forest Garden this morning, to have a second go at clearing daisies from around the fruit trees.

Things we learnt:

• Rats like apricots.
• Trimmings should be snipped ready for composting.
• What a Hairy Shield Bug looks like.

We also had chats about poetry, books, the importance of names, WILL IT EVER RAIN, and the bakeries of Oxford.

Smaller team means a bigger share of Isobel's delicious blackberry cake!

With a brisk breeze blowing and the omnipresent sun shining, this evening we journeyed to Kennington to tackle a bit more ragwort.

Kennington Memorial Fields is a gorgeous nature space on the edge of Radley and Bagley woods and is used for grazing. Ragwort is great for butterflies and caterpillars but can be deadly if eaten by cattle and horses.

Armed with ragwort forks and shears we got to work hoiking out the, now rather crispy, plants and trying not to spread too many of the seeds. Our other jobs involved removing ivy from the gateways and memorial plaques (thank you Chris) and giving the anthills a bit of a haircut to remove some very prickly thistles. We also cleared up a bit of garden rubbish that seemed to have made its way into the meadow.....

Ragwort pulling is a little like litterpicking in a way - sponsored by the phrase "oh but theres a bit more over there!!".

Splendid work as ever team!!

Mrs S has a large garden with a long lawn and she struggles to keep things tidy due to her mobility and health. She asked for me to pick up the fallen plums from her tree and mow the lawn and if there was time to tidy the front garden of weeds and mow the grass verge. The shrubs in her back garden all need cutting back. We were able to get everything done except the shrubs that need trimming. It was a very warm day and I ran out of time as Mrs S always likes to share a drink and a chat after completing as much work as we can get done on the day. It is always a pleasure to help in these kind of tasks as people are always so grateful.