On a very hot Saturday, four GoodGymers who had been staying locally for the bank holiday weekend made their way to Grove Farm Nature Reserve. Some of them walked, and others used the opportunity to complete their main run of the day - a rather brutal 8km up three hills in the scorching sun!

Everyone was happy to find out that the task would be carried out in the shade. Giovanni, who came for his second GoodGym session, Sevan, Steph Ducat and Kash, together with Livio and Portia, followed the leader, Mike, to the Whitton Avenue entrance to the park, where they took a turn into the wilder part of the green space.

The job could be summarised as "explorers in the service of biodiversity". The group was tasked with clearing the thick overgrowth to provide park rangers with access to the Japanese knotweed spotted deep in the wilderness. Japanese knotweed is a highly invasive, non-native plant in the UK that was introduced to Europe in the 19th century as an ornamental. Knotweed, commonly found along rivers and streams, where it easily disperses, poses significant problems to native ecosystems if left uncontrolled.

Our explorers ventured upstream the totally dried at this time of the year, Costons Brook, clearing the vegetation along the ditch. The victims of relentless trimming, lopping and sawing were brambles, nettles, ivy and hawthorn - all the aggressively growing plants that would come back in no time. The joint forces of Friends of Grove Farm and GoodGym were up against an invasive, non-native plant, so the sacrifices were necessary.

On the way, the volunteers spotted interesting species of fungi, which the LAGER Can member Sue identified as King Alfred's cake. If you ask me, it looked nothing like a cake, but King Alfred had lived long enough ago for the bakery standards to change completely.

Another intriguing and somewhat creepy find was a Sainsbury's bag, discovered by Giovanni, filled with discarded Barbie dolls. Had someone made a statement by rejecting the symbol of an unattainable female physique or just grown out of their toys, we'll never know!

We made tremendous progress clearing the overgrown ditch, removing larger logs and entire trees on the way, and safely navigating between two old trees that posed the risk of falling. However, the road to the knotweed is long and bumpy, so we'll need to come back in June to cut through the rest of the vegetation. Join us for the conservation day in June!