4 Goodgymers met at Ealing Broadway Station to run and chat towards Acton park as volunteering at Acton Junior Parkrun. Slightly cooler than previous days but still hot 🔥

The last two sessions in the Grove Farm woodlands have, rather oddly, coincided with the May and June heatwaves at the end of each month. This latest conservation day seemed even hotter than the one over the May bank holiday weekend. On the positive note, the temperature had dropped to "only" around 32°C, a welcome improvement after a truly scorching midweek!

Maybe the heat was the reason behind the lower-than-usual turnout? Sevan, Steph Ducat and Kash still showed up after quite demanding morning runs and, together with Mike, sought to cool down in the depths of the woods. There, upstream of the dried-up Costons Brook, the task awaited. Picking up from last month's unfinished objective, the team continued their journey into the wild green yonder, hacking through brambles, ivy and nettles, and removing fallen logs blocking the way - all while keeping a careful eye on dangerously leaning, half-rotten trees towering overhead.

Mike was hoping to get closer to the lair of Japanese knotweed, which was due to be treated by the rangers (given access to the site was provided) as a highly invasive non-native species threatening Grove Farm's ecosystem. Although the team wasn't expecting to uncover the knotweed by the end of the day's expedition, the adventurers made a few eclectic discoveries along the way. Their collection of woodland litter ranged from a shopping basket and a running shoe to a hi-fi stack system and even a wasp nest. One of the wasps took a particular dislike to Kash and made its feelings known with a sting, leaving her with a painful ankle that hindered both her walking and running for the rest of the day.

At the end of the corridor they had cut through the undergrowth, awaited "a house" - a wild camping site complete with a carpet, a table and seating. In the middle of that house, Sevan discovered another "house", and a rather bizarre one: a bird cage, which was an unusual sight in the middle of the woods, where one might expect freedom rather than confinement.

After reaching the "house", Mike suggested cutting an alternative route back, making sure both banks of Costons Brook were cleared in case the stream started flowing again with the arrival of autumn. The fallen logs and trees along the return route had to be carefully removed, one by one, until the team reached the main cleared path again.

"Grove Farm doesn't want to let you leave." - Mike.

Eventually, the nature reserve released the GoodGymers to do good elsewhere. But they promised to return in July to continue their mission, hopefully without any more heatwaves!

Very hot day so cooled down in between with and ice cream

Believe it or not, this was actually my first run of the week because of the hot weather. Fortunately, the run to the shop for Mr G was well worth it - South Acton turned out to be much breezier than South Ealing, while Chiswick was even better in that regard, especially Sainsbury's, where the air conditioning was a welcome relief.

There were no special cooling-down items on Mr G's shopping list, just the usual products, including an additional bag of walnut halves.

In total, I ran about 6.5 km, with a cooling break along the way, and survived. I now feel ready for a weekend full of running and missions. Bring it on!

The session at Hanger Hill Tiny Forest was the final event in GoodGym Ealing's London Climate Action Week agenda, organised in partnership with Earthwatch Europe. Over the course of the week, we surveyed three of the Tiny Forests planted within the last two years across the borough, helping Earthwatch monitor biodiversity and track the development of these young urban forests.

On a very hot Tuesday evening, we decided not to go ahead with the planned group run ahead of our task. Having assessed the risks posed by the extreme heat, we opted instead for a lighter approach to the session. Steph Ducat and Kash walked together to the task, while Amy arrived by bike. Everyone came well prepared with plenty of water to stay hydrated.

Compared with our wildlife surveys in Southall and Cuckoo Park, Hanger Hill appeared to host slightly fewer butterflies and insects. There could be several explanations for this. The forest had fewer flowering plants than the other sites, making it less attractive to pollinators. We were also surveying in the evening rather than around midday, when insect activity is often higher. Or perhaps, in the midst of the extreme heat, the insects had sensibly decided to stay out of the sun and keep cool.

While insect numbers seemed lower, the trees themselves were thriving. In fact, Hanger Hill Tiny Forest appeared to have the tallest and densest tree growth of any Tiny Forest we have surveyed this year. There were also noticeably fewer weeds and grasses competing with the young trees than at the other sites, suggesting the forest is developing particularly well.

Unfortunately, most of the tiles normally used to protect the ground dwellers had been removed from their original positions and stacked together at the edge of the forest. This limited Steph's search, but he still managed to find ants, larvae and a spider beneath the few remaining tiles. Amy, who described herself as a beginner in wildlife identification, took on the butterfly survey and did a great job identifying species with the help of Earthwatch's guide. Meanwhile, Kash completed the pollinator survey, recording mostly flies and other small insects rather than the bees and bumblebees we had seen elsewhere.

With the survey finished and the sun only beginning to dip lower in the sky, the team headed home on foot and by bike. Some of us even made it back in time to watch the football!

Next Tuesday, with temperatures hopefully returning to something more reasonable, we'll be resuming our runs and heading to a different corner of the borough. We'll be visiting the William Hobbayne Centre in Hanwell to help tidy and weed the back garden ahead of an event the charity is hosting the following weekend. We'd love to see you there!

On the longest day of 2026, four GoodGymers met Ben Morris and the other Balsam Bashers from Clean Up River Brent (CURB) for a biodiversity-boosting mission. It was only 10 am, but with the sun rising so early at this time of year, it already felt almost like afternoon.

Having defeated the invasive Himalayan balsam on the banks of the River Brent near the Brent Viaduct last summer, the next step was to build a fortress of native plants. Earlier this year, CURB had planted purple loosestrife and reeds ("the good guys") in the space reclaimed from Himalayan balsam ("the baddie"). However, much of the riverbank had since been occupied by a different gang: stinging nettles, cleavers and brambles.

With another delivery of reeds still on the way, our mission was to prepare the ground for future planting events. Cue hacking, slashing, lopping, chopping and digging.

Andrew, who fondly remembered his previous slashing mission with CURB, joined regulars Steph Ducat, Sevan and Kash. Armed with wellies, the four GoodGymers ventured down to the riverbank. Sevan and Kash even had the pleasure of dipping their booted feet into the cool river water - a welcome relief on such a hot and thirsty morning.

"Every minute a dive into the water gets more and more tempting!" – Andrew.
"I'd say have a swim, but I cannot say that." – Ben.
"You can swim as long as you're not getting in contact with the water." – Andrew.

Unfortunately, the River Brent isn't exactly a wild swimming destination. The water is known to be heavily polluted, containing sewage and harmful bacteria, making it far from safe for a dip. That's one of the reasons CURB exists. Alongside practical conservation work, the group monitors water quality, removes rubbish, raises awareness through public engagement, and campaigns against sewage pollution in the river system. We'd all love to see the Brent become a clean and thriving ecosystem once again. Encouragingly, a few volunteers spotted fish during the session, proving there is life in the river - but there's still plenty of work to do.

And so we got to work.

Steph wielded a monstrous slasher, mercilessly cutting back unwanted vegetation. Andrew took on the nettles and brambles with shears and a fork. Standing ankle-deep in the river, Sevan focused on the delicate task of rescuing the loosestrife and reeds by removing bindweed and nettles. Kash worked the slope between Steph's assault and Sevan's rescue mission, chopping back nettles and sticky willy.

At one point, alarm was raised when a couple towering hogweed plants were spotted rising above the surrounding vegetation. If you haven't encountered this particular baddie before, giant hogweed is a highly invasive species whose sap can cause severe burns when exposed to sunlight, leading to painful blisters and long-lasting skin damage. Fortunately, Ben confirmed that the plants in question were merely common hogweed rather than their far more sinister cousin, and the slashing could continue.

"These hogweeds are enormous... but not giant." – Sevan.

In a little under two hours of hard work in the sun, we cleared a significant area that is now nearly ready for planting. We left most of the roots for a less dry day, when they'll be easier to dig out. We're looking forward to hearing from Ben about the next delivery of plants so that we can arrange a follow-up session and cement our victory over the baddies by planting more of the good guys along the riverbank!