Aston's Eyot is tucked away beside the river and is one of our favourite Oxford wild spots. They've just completed a (very on-trend) vaccination programme to immunise their badgers against TB, and now the focus returns to nature reserve management to encourage greater biodiversity.

Meeting us at the tool shed Ruth explained our tasks for the evening would be clearing nettles from one of the best areas for wildflowers in Aston's Eyot using a combination of scything and weeding out by hand. Removing the taller nettles should allow the smaller flowers to thrive. We actually cleared nettles in the same patch a couple of years ago, so it was nice to be back at the same spot with some of the same people.

In the wildflower meadow we grasped the nettle with enthusiasm. It was oddly satisfying pulling them out by the roots and revealing the smaller wildflowers beneath the canopy of stingy beasts.

A few eyes lit up at the sight of the scythes, with Sarah and Katie taking first go and wooshing through large patches of nettles, before handing the blades around the group for more people to try. Afterall, it's not often someone lets you loose with a scythe.

Scything proved both satisfying and therapeutic after a long year or COVID-frustrations!

Some of us were definitely more savvy with our clothing options for nettle-work than others. Not ideal: shorts and vests. Good choices for nettle work (although a bit steamy for 26 degree heat): head-to-toe waterproofs.

Having amassed a massive haul of nettles we had to consider whether we could be making good use of the 'weeds'. Matt reliably informs us that the first nettle harvest of the year is the best one for cooking, and as they also seem to be the fiercest stingers we figured there might be a certain satisfaction to boiling them up after the pain we have endured from them on GoodGym tasks over the last couple of years!

Our top 3 options:
* Nettle Tea
* Nettle Soup
* Beating ourselves with them for warmth, just like the Romans

Badgers proved elusive (well, they are nocturnal), but we were treated to the sight of a muntjak deer wandering across the path at the end of our session, apparently supremely unconcerned by 25 people staring at it!

Some exciting milestones last night: Jeremy did his 10th Good Deed and Vicky did her 100th - Watch out for Vicky in her winged Tshirt soon! Anwen reached the unofficial milestone of 250 Good Deeds.

We welcomed our first GoodGym tourist since the pandemic, with Chi joining us from Haringey.

And finally... welcome to Meysam - Thanks for joining us for the first time!

Who's the best at nettle weeding? STING!

The Lye Valley is a very rare environment: a wet area, fed by lime-rich springs along the valley walls. It is home to many unusual plants and is also abundant in wildlife. The importance of this area has led to the designation of two Sites of Special Scientific Interest, the North and South Fens, which are protected by national legislation. You can find out more about Lye Valley here.

The Friends of Lye Valley have weekly work parties tackling conservation and maintenance tasks, but there are areas along the edges of the valley which are hot-spots for litter and tipping and they have not been able to tackle the problem with the numbers of helpers available to them. A month or so ago we received an SOS call from the Friends of Lye Valley requesting that we help them out by undertaking a litter picking blitz along the sides of the valley. The areas in question are earmarked for habitat improvement later in the year, and so it was becoming urgent to clear up the worst of the litter before the vegetation got too high.

Although it can be icky, a litter pick is a strangely satisfying activity, so we're always happy to arrange a litter picking flash mob!

Divide and conquer is our USP at the moment, so we split into 3 teams heading off in different directions:

• Mark took half-a-dozen GoodGymers around the streets surrounding the valley. Key finds included a washing line, cat collar, unidentified metal objects, and a toy taxi. Conversation topics - Barbados or Costa Rica for our holidays now that we have an in-house flight team?
  
• Bethan and Sarah took another team along the board walk, through the stretch of woods, and back through the Churchill Hospital site. Some Extreme Plogging was undertaken - balancing a bit precariously to fish litter out of the stream and watching out for enthusiastic golfers as they skirted the edge of the golf course (GoodGym Oxford are going to start a golf-ball reselling business next).
  
• The final team scrambled up the valley sides to the grot spot. A lot of items had been thrown over into the valley from the road - sofa cushions, pillows, a broom, an old TV, a tennis racket, a massive protein powder tub. Definitely plenty of options for the Too Big to Bag and Very Random Item squares on our Litter Pick Bingo cards. Alongside the bulky trash there were plenty of the usual suspects such as cans, bottles, masks, crisp packets, and this may qualify as one of the smelliest litter picks EVER thanks to dozens of dog poo bags. Since you're never done on a GoodGym litter pick until you've found underwear we're happy to report 3 pairs of men's pants (one Ralph Lauren pair, fancy) and one bra. In fact, there was nearly a full outfit once you added in the jacket and shorts we fished out of the undergrowth.
  

If you haven't quite had your fill of litter picking yet this spring Ben will be leading a litter pick along Binsey Lane in West Oxford on 5th June. You can sign up here. It's technically part of the OxClean Spring Clean, but really it's all about replenishing our stock of golf balls.

Welcome Rebecca and Vanessa - glad you could join us for the first time!

See here for more info on the Aston Eyot Badger vaccination program which we briefly discussed at the end of the litter pick.

Rivermead Rubbish Song (RHCP arr TW/ZW)

Watch the video : here

Its hard to believe that, there's nobody out there.

Its hard to believe we've all been at home.

And our City of Oxford, is covered in rubbish.

Lonely no more as, we picked some today

Under the Bridge in our town

GoodGymers picked away

Under the Bridge we found

This rubbish could not stay

Under the Bridge Downtown

On such a sunny day

Rubbish in Rivermead

We took it all away

Away

8 GoodGymers cleared up a mountain of rubbish under the Southern Bypass in Rivermead Nature Reserve, Rose Hill. There was a big selection of rusty bike parts, engines, cans and frying pans, mouldy coats and sleeping bags. We often find pants on litter picks, this was no exception.. but this time we came across possibly our first bra (I think)! More cans, bottles, a supermarket trolley it went on and on I'm glad we shifted it! Well done to everyone who lugged it up the hill to the ring road and across to our collection point

We inspired a local Rivermead resident Laura to do her own pick also nearby at the allotments she got 2 big bags and a broken chair to add to our collection :)

Another Trevor collected the rubbish (I'm always amazed to find them!), and we reckon about 50 big bags, plus a load of metal things.. so a big haul!

Trev

23 GoodGymers pulled together to deliver 25 parcels of food and other essentials tonight.

Parcels flew out going South, East and West across Oxford. Many of the team doubled back to the hall after dropping off their first parcel to check all the deliveries were under control, which was much appreciated on such a busy evening.

Shout out to Mark and Ben for sorting and restocking the shelves while the first parcels started going out.

Special mention to Rachael who did 3 deliveries tonight: Gold star!

Excellent teamwork as ever.