Litter Red Riding Hood

It was a quiet day at Wolf Fields urban nature reserve. Maybe because of the bank holiday, there were fewer volunteers than at the March event. GoodGym again came as a trio which was a decent number. Apart from us, the group consisted of the site manager Andrew and four humans plus one dog from LAGER Can. The dog was Cathy's 15-year-old girl, Minnie.

The GoodGymers who made it to the task were: a new member Alison (don't forget to give her a cheer 📣), Branwen and Kash.

In the beginning, it didn't look like we would collect lots of bulky and unusual things like the last time when we went to Wolf Fields. Firstly, the most impressive pieces of rubbish had been already removed. Secondly, the nettles and other weeds took over, making it difficult to spot hidden litter.

When asked about that blooming undesirable vegetation, Andrew explained he didn't want to cut down the invasive plants yet because in the spring they provide habitats for animals, especially insects. Andrew hopes to tackle the areas closest to the fence in the winter when both the weeds and insects would be dead. The future plan is to clear the waste, prepare the soil and plant hedges that would isolate the nature reserve and protect it from new waves of litter.

Despite being lower in numbers than before, we collected an impressive pile of rubbish which we traditionally dumped next to the nearest bus stop (the previous stack of waste had luckily disappeared). The findings consisted of a wide range of stuff: from bras and clothes dryers to plastic leaves and rusty hammers.

The highlight of the session was the chat we had with the LAGER Can folks. We discussed which of the spiders are the cutest (jumping spiders, of course!), then delved into conversations about our dreams and ambitions. That made today an absorbing task, even if the waste we found was not as wild and exciting as we anticipated!